1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910493663403321

Autore

Stroeken Koen

Titolo

Moral power [[electronic resource] ] : the magic of witchcraft / / Koen Stroeken

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York, : Berghahn Books, 2010

ISBN

1-84545-849-4

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (284 p.)

Collana

Epistemologies of healing ; ; v. 9

Disciplina

133.4/3

133.43

Soggetti

Witchcraft

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

1. Introduction : the meaning of witchcraft -- 2. Why magic works : systemic healing -- 3. The dancer : gift and sacrifice -- 4. Four forms of social exchange -- 5. The witch : moral power and intrusion -- 6. Divination : a healing journey -- 7. The 'pure' reason of witch killing -- 8. Spirit possession : incarnating moral power -- 9. Magic, ritual and the senses.

Sommario/riassunto

Neither power nor morality but both. Moral power is what the Sukuma from Tanzania in times of crisis attribute to an unknown figure they call their witch. A universal process is involved, as much bodily as social, which obstructs the patient's recovery. Healers turn the table on the witch through rituals showing that the community and the ancestral spirits side with the victim. In contrast to biomedicine, their magic and divination introduce moral values that assess the state of the system and that remove the obstacles to what is taken as key: self-healing. The implied 'sensory shifts' and the