Greetings,
Also excellent is ju-ju in my life by James Henry Neal which is the tale
of Neal's work in west Africa as a colonial official and his experiences
with ju-ju as he calls it. It is very interesting from the point of view
of being an account of a person who totally doesn't believe in the
efficacy of magic coming to a view where the sheer weight of evidence
convinces him of it.
Morgan Leigh
PhD Candidate
School of Sociology & Social Work
University of Tasmania
On 25/02/2013 9:01 AM, David Mattichak wrote:
> Thanks Robert, I will definitely take a look at some of these.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2013 16:37:36 -0500
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Sorcery definitely not happening.
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> Hi again, David,
>
> Here are some anthropologists' encounters with magic that seemed to be
> (or actually was) effective, as well as a few other related items:
>
> (1) Anthologies:
>
> David E. Young & Jean-Guy A. Goulet, edd. /Being Changed by
> Cross-Cultural Encounters; The Anthropology of Extraordinary
> Exeprience. / Broadview Press, 1994.
>
>
>
> Jean-Guy A. Goulet & Bruce Granville Miller, edd. /Extraordinary
> Anthropology: Transformations in the Field./ University of Nebrasks
> Press, 2007.
>
> Philip M. Peek, ed. /African Divination Systems: Ways of Knowing. /
> Indiana University Press, 1991.
>
> Michael Winkelman & Philip M. Peek, edd. /Divination and Healing:
> Potent Vision. / University of Arizona Press, 2004.
>
>
> (2) Monographic Studies:
>
> Paul Stoller and Cheryl Olkes. /In Sorcery's Shadow: A Memoir of
> Apprenticeship among the Songhay of Niger. / University of Chicago
> Press, 1987.
>
> Edith Turner et alii. /Experiencing Ritual: A New Interpretation of
> African healing./ University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992.
>
>
>
> Barbara Tedlock. /The Woman in the Shaman's Body./ Random House
> (Bantam), 2005.
>
>
>
> Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer. /Extraordinary Knowing. / Random House (Bantam,)
> 2007.
>
>
> (3) Various articles:
>
>
>
> Michael Winkelman. "Magic: A Theoretical Reassessment," /Current
> Anthropology,/ 23/1 (Fenruary 1982), 37-66.
>
> Bruce T. Grindal, "Into the Heart of Sisala Exeprience: Witnessing Death
> Divination," /Journal of Anthropological Research,/ 39 (1983), 60-80.
> -- Perhaps the most important article of them all.
>
> Barbara Tedlock. "From Participant Observation to the Observation of
> Participation: The Emergence of Narrative Ethnography," /Journal of
> Anthropological Research,/ 47/1 (1991), 69-94.
>
> Edith Turner. "The Reality of Spirits: A Tabooed or Permitted Field of
> Study?" /Anthropology of Consciousness,/ 4/1 (March 1993), 9-12.
>
> James McClenon & Jennifer Nooney. "Anomalous Experiences Reported by
> Field Anthropologists: Evaluating Theories Regarding Religion,"
> /Anthropology of Consciousness,/ 13/2 (2002), 46-60.
>
> Edith Turner. "Advances in the Study of Spirit Experience: Drawing
> Together Many Threads," /Anthropology of Consciousness, /17/2 (2006),
> 33-61. -- Has large bibliography.
>
>
>
>
>
> All best,
>
> Robert Mathiesen
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, Feb 24, 2013 at 1:13 AM, David Mattichak
> <[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
>
> Sabina;
>
> Thank you very much for explaining that. Every time I communicate
> with the people here I become a little more enlightened.
>
> David
>
> > Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2013 20:39:00 -0800
> > From: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>
> > Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Sorcery definitely not happening.
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> >
> > David et al.,
> >
> > Max Marwick's work is one of the classic anthropological studies
> of witchcraft. Native sorcery and witchcraft can certainly be
> effective, even to the point of death -- Walter Cannon's famous
> article "Voodoo Death" (1940 something!) demonstrated that. Most
> anthropologists who have made a serious study of magic, sorcery and
> witchcraft concede that it appears to work in ways that are
> difficult for Western science to account for outside of psychology
> and the nocebo effect, although the systems do have their own
> internal logic.
> >
> > One factor that we must take into account in the study of
> traditional systems in which magic works is social structure. Magic,
> sorcery and witchcraft are typical of small-scale societies in which
> people live face-to-face and are in one another's business all the
> time. In such societies, magic has a social force. It's no accident
> that the single factor that most impacted the decrease in witchcraft
> beliefs in England in the 1800s was urbanization. When society
> becomes more anonymous and networks less dense (meaning that people
> have one-dimensional relationships with most others, rather than
> multi-dimensional ones), both the accusations against and the
> practice of sorcery and witchcraft diminish.
> >
> > Best,
> > Sabina
> >
> > Sabina Magliocco
> > Professor
> > Department of Anthropology
> > California State University - Northridge
> > [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> > ________________________________________
> > From: Society for The Academic Study of Magic
> [[log in to unmask]
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>] On Behalf Of David
> Mattichak [[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>]
> > Sent: Saturday, February 23, 2013 6:40 PM
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> > Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Sorcery definitely not happening.
> >
> > Hi Sabina & Sam;
> >
> > I totally agree that the concepts of magick and witchcraft are
> very different in Chinomso's mind to my own concepts of what a witch
> or magick is. I have been trying to explain to him that I don't use
> magick in the way that he describes and have also tried to explain
> that works like the Goetia take many years to learn to use safely
> and effectively.
> >
> > Because I live in Australia I have run across Papua New Guineans
> with similar beliefs about magick, although it is less common for
> them to be aware of western magickal systems. I have no doubt that
> the magick that is used by these native witches is very effective
> and when I don't hear from Chinomso for a few weeks I wonder what
> might have become of him (we have been corresponding irregularly for
> about a year).
> >
> > Since reading Max Marwick (I don't know where academics stand on
> his work but would be interested to find out) I have developed a
> healthy respect for native sorcery. Perhaps we don't believe in
> magick in the west because we have lost much of our natural capacity
> for it whereas the long standing traditional lives of native peoples
> that have little meaningful contact with the west have retained not
> only the belief but the ability.
> >
> > I must say that I have often been tempted to visit Papua New
> Guinea to see if I can find out!
> >
> > David
> >
> > ________________________________
> > Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2013 17:30:44 -0700
> > From: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> > Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Sorcery definitely not happening.
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> >
> > He hasn't really filled me in on too many of the details about
> what he thinks about witches and I haven't really pressed him about
> it. He is trying to learn Western magick and sees that as a
> potential source of power for himself.
> >
> > David,
> >
> > Four of my co-workers come from West Africa (1 from Burkina Faso,
> three from Cameroon) and the topic of magic comes up occasionally in
> conversation. Their take is that it's dangerous stuff and they try
> to not have anything to do with it. Definitely cursing and powerful.
> I am in the broomcloset at work and don't feel up to talking about
> Wicca versus witchcraft (anthropologically speaking) in
> conversations in the lunch room!
> >
> > Interesting - I agree with Sabina that the reason why magick users
> are safe in the West is because people don't believe in magick here.
> Also, much that used to be done with magickal assistance is done
> more reliably through medicine and science.
> >
> > Blessed Be
> >
> > Sam Wagar
>
>
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