The practice of using ritual powers, magic and the invocation of spirits-broadly termed as

This article is about witchcraft and its different varieties of practices in different cultures. This article explains how witchcraft exists and plays an essential part in structural and functional aspects of a society. It also sheds the light on the journey of witchcraft from being profane and wicked to acceptable part of a culture.

The chapter “The Notion of Witchcraft Explains Unfortunate Events” describes how Evans-Pritchard observed and analysed the world of witchcraft among the Azande tribe in Sudan. With his fieldwork in 1937 he wanted to look at how they used spirits, oracles, magic and witchcraft to explain unfortunate events and how they connected death these events to witchcraft (Eriksen, 2010, p.242). In the first part of this chapter Evans-Pritchard writes how witchcraft plays an important role in everyday life among the Zande. He highlights that witchcraft is the root to any failure and misfortune.

In such a field, the lesser agents of misfortune, the witches could flourish” (Ashforth, p. 102). Furthermore, with high unemployment rates and pervasive poverty, jealousy was seen as the principle motivator for the practice of witchcraft. In the same interview, Madumo continues, “It’s also about jobs. It’s the lack of jobs that’s contributed to the high volume of witchcraft. Because if someone is having a job, then his neighbors become jealous and will witch him so as to make him lose that job” (Ashforth, p. 102). Madumo cites these societal circumstances as a sociological causation for the rise of purported witchcraft.

In this book Carol Karlsen reveals the social construction of witchcraft in 17th century New England, and brings forth the portrait of gender in the New England Society.

Bever clarifies why he believes historians often focus only on the rise of witchcraft rather than their decline. He believes the reason this occurs is because, historians assume “their defeat seemed self-evident” (Bever, 2009, p. 264). The author explains how the rise of witches occurred, “chain-reaction trials started with a few stereotyped suspects but gradually widened to include previously unsuspected commoners and eventually friends” (Bever, 2009, p. 272). Bever also gives discusses of how witchcraft came to affect the society and how it became “an integral part of late medieval culture and society” (Bever, 2009, p. 288). The work relates more specifically to the field of the first centuries of colonization because, although some ideas presented in this article can be inferred, most are not that of the general

In addition to all of this, Karleson has established statistically, that women who were married but had no children, women who were married but had only daughters, and finally women who were daughters of parents who had no male offspring were more vulnerable to cause of witchcraft. (Page 101) What this shows is the clear linkage of economic interest and the importance of

In all of human history, people have written about inhuman beings, many of which include gods, demons, wizards, sorcerers, sorceresses, and witches. Nowadays mystical beings are seen everywhere in media. Most of society stopped believing in these creatures years ago, but for 17th-century Salem, witchcraft became a living nightmare (Fremon, 1999).

The witchcraft phenomenon of the Renaissance period was shaped by a wide range of cultural factors; witchcraft was not necessarily subject to a single cohesive idea or concept, and it was often instead a conglomeration of many different societal concerns, concerns which spanned through all spheres of society. Textual evidence from this period provides insight into the way in which witches were conceived, and how witches were dealt with, while visual images present a companion visualisation of the tensions, which influenced created the witch, and the imagery, which came to be associated with witchcraft.

Witchcraft exists. Whether we choose to believe or not, its existence in worldwide cultures is undeniable. Its form takes many shapes that can be determined by the religion, economics, politics, and folk beliefs in each individual culture where it may take place. Its importance in our own, American, history should not go understated: Witches were a major dilemma for people who lived in 1692 Salem, Massachusetts, and as a result women (and men) were hanged due to undeniable belief in the power of Witchcraft. Today, belief in magic and witches has diminished with the increasingly secular nature of our culture, but we must accept there was a time when witches “existed”. While American culture has drifted away from ideas such as witchcraft, others have certainly not, with the primary example being Africa. Witchcraft in African culture accounts for many of the issues found within many of the continents communities. Correcting these issues, at least for a time, usually results in a community being “fixed” (examples are made in Adam Ashford’s account of witchery, Madumo, a Man Bewitched and the anthropological accounts being used for this essay). What is fascinating; however, are the parallels that can be made between witchcraft in different cultures. In a previous essay I touched on this topic by incorporating my definition of witchcraft as “a cultural means of being able to create particular moral boundaries by means of ‘magic’ thinking” (Brian Riddle, 2015). In this essay, I

Witchdoctors also known as african folk healers were traced back from time of slavery. The name witchdoctors gives a bad representation of them even though they are very wise and knowledgeable. Witchdoctors are great outlets and sources to to their communities. Everything that was known from past generations would be passed down to the newest generation. Looking at the history of witchdoctors it is apparent that many can be found dispersed throughout Africa along with their different cultures, beliefs, and treatments. All of these aspects can be seen in the book “No Witchcraft for Sale”

Prior to the fifteenth century, rural European women were highly revered and respected pillars of rural community life; not only considered mothers and wives, but seen as community leaders, physicians, and sources of strength and wisdom. Women had a special and imperative role in rural life, and even those that lived on the fringes of society were well respected as the village healers and wise women. These old women would possess the wisdom of the ages and pass it on to others. This respect for women quickly deteriorated, however, during the witch hunts. The belief spread that women were morally weaker than men and driven by carnal lust, therefore making them more susceptible to being tempted by the Devil, and thus practicing witchcraft. (Levack p. 126) As people took this belief to heart, it is apparent that society would be affected indefinitely by such intolerance.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the common usages of sorcery and witchcraft among peoples of the world along with a brief overview of the cognitive and sociological theories used to explain the prevalence of sorcery and witchcraft. This paper will also evaluate, and explain Madumo’s situation by using Peoples and Bailey’s Humanity along with Ashforth’s Madumo, a Man Bewitched and discussing their relationships with Madumo, his problems, and the ideas of sorcery and witchcraft and the role that they play in Madumo’s culture and life.

I don’t know about you, but for me so far, all of our author’s attempts to get an explanation about what witchcraft is has failed. We know that witchcraft is the cause of misfortunes and personal injury sustained by the Azande people through what they believe to be no fault of their own, but I think we have yet to have any understanding of what causes witchcraft itself. Where does it come from, who causes it, and is it in any way like a sort of karma believed to be punishment for bad deeds like in eastern philosophies? I think we need to take a deeper look into witchcraft and what the Azande people are actually talking about, because from what I’ve gathered so far, the Azande believe that witchcraft is an unexplained phenomena of independent events that in no way should have had any reason to take place simultaneously

Peters Golden, the quote from an Azande man put many aspects of The Azande thought

This paper explores and addresses the role that witchcraft plays in African cultures and societies. It delves into six different sources and analyzes how witchcraft plays a role in each of the different African tribes discussed. Each source displays new information and practices regarding the different tribes and cultures throughout Africa and how witchcraft relates to each and every one of them. Although each tribe had a different view of witchcraft, all of them have a general fear for witches, and shared some sort of societal impact as a result.