Hey Steve, glad to see another Taussig fan (Happy St. Pat's btw). And C, speaking of Taussig, I think it's worth mentioning how much he owes to Benjamin and Adorno in discussing magic and advertising, especially in terms of the image and the copy (Taussig's interpretation of Frazer's sympathetic magic).
JLW
Stephen Wemeyer <[log in to unmask]> wrote: Greetings,
The Taussig work to which Justin refers, for the record, is "The Devil and
Commodity Fetishism." Taussig revisits similar themes, in a somewhat more
creative, po-mo style in his later work "Magic of the State" which treats
the complex relationships between market imperialism and Venezuelan sorcery.
Strongly recommended, although I generally find a glass of rum or something
similarly bracing is a necessary companion when negotiating Taussig's
prose.
Stephen C. Wehmeyer
Liberal Studies
CSUN & Otis College of Art & Design
-----Original Message-----
From: Society for The Academic Study of Magic
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Justin Woodman
Sent: Sunday, March 19, 2006 6:01 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] La Sorcellerie capitaliste
There appears to be a similar trend evident in anthropology in the work of
Peter Geschiere (1997, 'The Modernity of Witchcraft') and Jean & John
Comaroff's edited collection ('Modernity and its Malcontents') amongst
others. Also of interested is the more recent collection edited by Brigit
Meyer and Peter Pels, 'Magic and Modernity: Interfaces of Revelation and
Concealment' (2003). The impetus of much of this work refers back to
Michael Taussig's classic study of the 'magical' beliefs of the Bolivian
peasantry as a form of resistance to the 'u!
nnatural'
and 'sorcerous'
aspects of capitalism, and ultimately back to Marx's notion of commodity
fetishism.
Justin
> Has anybody here read Isabelle Stengers recent book (with P. Pignarre)
> 'La
> Sorcellerie capitaliste', published last year? It's not translated yet.
>
>
> Isabelle Stengers is a highly respected philosopher of science (she
> co-wrote 'Order out of Chaos' with Ilya Prigogine). In her recent writings
> and in this new book, she has been claiming that capitalism makes use of
> practices of sorcery, and that those who wish to resist capitalism can
> learn from 'neo-pagan' sources about means of 'de-bewitchment'
> (desenvoutement). She
> has said that she now wants to take on the name 'witch', which she of
> course realises will cause a frisson of anxiety among her current
> readership! Recently, she also translated one of Starhawk's books into
>
French.
>
>
> Would anyone like to discuss this work here or off-list?
>
>
>
> C
>
>
>
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