Ethnographic Sorcery

By: Harry G. West

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Paperback | 1 May 2007 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Paperback
128 Pages

Edition Type
New edition

Dimensions(cm)
2.15 x 1.4 x 0.1

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According to the people of the Mueda plateau in northern Mozambique, sorcerers remake the world by asserting the authority of their own imaginative visions of it. While conducting research among these Muedans, anthropologist Harry G. West made a revealing discovery-for many of them, West's efforts to elaborate an ethnographic vision of their world was itself a form of sorcery. In Ethnographic Sorcery, West explores the fascinating issues provoked by this equation.

A key theme of West's research into sorcery is that one sorcerer's claims can be challenged or reversed by other sorcerers. After West's attempt to construct a metaphorical interpretation of Muedan assertions that the lions prowling their villages are fabricated by sorcerers is disputed by his Muedan research collaborators, West realized that ethnography and sorcery indeed have much in common. Rather than abandoning ethnography, West draws inspiration from this connection, arguing that anthropologists, along with the people they study, can scarcely avoid interpreting the world they inhabit, and that we are all, inescapably, ethnographic sorcerers.

Industry Reviews

"At its core, this very significant book is a meditation on how to understand discourses on and around sorcery on the Mueda plateau in Mozambique. Here, Harry West is concerned with the question of how Muedans use sorcery discourse, both 'to speak about the world and to act within it.' I found this book consistently fascinating, subtle, and deeply grounded in local understandings of a complex and ambiguous world and in anthropological theory." - Donald Brenneis, University of California, Santa Cruz"

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Sociology & Anthropology Sociology Mind, Body, Spirit Mysticism, Magic & Occult Interests Magic, Spells & Alchemy Religion & Beliefs Alternative Belief Systems Occult Studies Magic, Alchemy & Hermetic Thought Witchcraft Anthropology

Social & Cultural Anthropology, Ethnography Witchcraft & Wicca Politics & Government Physical Anthropology Other Non-Christian Religions Tribal Religions Archaeology

Misunderstanding	p. 1
In search of the forward-looking peasant	p. 6
"This must be studied scientifically"	p. 12
Belief as metaphor	p. 19
"The problem may lie there"	p. 26
Whose metaphors?	p. 35
Powers of perspective and persuasion	p. 39
Making meaning, making the world	p. 45
Masked and dangerous	p. 49
Articulated visions	p. 55
Bridging domains	p. 61
Working with indeterminacy	p. 65
Doctors Kalamatatu	p. 71
Ethnographic sorcery	p. 77
Circular arguments	p. 86
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

Ethnographic Sorcery

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

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How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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