Beyond Rationalism

Rethinking Magic, Witchcraft and Sorcery

By: Bruce Kapferer (Editor)

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Paperback | 1 February 2003

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284 Pages

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This book seeks a reconsideration of the phenomenon of sorcery and related categories. The contributors to the volume explore the different perspectives on human sociality and social and political constitution that practices typically understood as sorcery, magic and ritual reveal. In doing so the authors are concerned to break away from the dictates of a western externalist rationalist understanding of these phenomena without falling into the trap of mysticism. The articles address a diversity of ethnographic contexts in Africa, Asia, the Pacific and the Americas.

Industry Reviews

"...Kapferer's introduction is an intellectual tour de force, perhaps the most important rethinking of the problems of rationality that underlie the study of witchcraft and sorcery since Evans-Pritchard." · American Anthropologist

"...teems with interesting theoretical insights, and all the chapters are particularly strong in delineating local meanings within the framework of broader processes." · African Studies Review

"... shows that the discourses on 'occult economies' are multiple ... The presented essays are an excellent illustration of their variety of forms and constitute a valuable contribution to their understanding." · Anthropos

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Acknowledgements
Introduction: Outside All Reason - Magic, Sorcery and Epistemology in Anthropology	p. 1
Beyond Vodou and Anthroposophy in the Dominican-Haitian Borderlands	p. 31
The Smell of Death: Theft, Disgust and Ritual Practice in Central Lombok, Indonesia	p. 75
Sorcery, Modernity and the Constitutive Imaginary: Hybridising Continuities	p. 105
The Sorcerer as an Absented Third Person: Formations of Fear and Anger in Vanuatu	p. 129
Sorcerous Technologies and Religious Innovation in Sri Lanka	p. 155
Maleficent Fetishes and the Sensual Order of the Uncanny in South-West Congo	p. 175
Fantasy in Practice: Projection and Introjection, or the Witch and the Spirit-Medium	p. 198
The Discourse of 'Ritual Murder': Popular Reaction to Political Leaders in Botswana	p. 215
Strange Fruit: The South African Truth Commission and the Demonic Economies of Violence	p. 234
Contributors	p. 266
Authors Index	p. 268
Subject Index	p. 271
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

Beyond Rationalism

Rethinking Magic, Witchcraft and Sorcery

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

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