Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Witches and witchcraft'
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1
Smith, Zena Diane. "Modern witchcraft in suburban Australia: how and what witches learn." Thesis, Curtin University, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/383.
Abstract:
Existing anthropological research and discussion related to contemporary Wiccan and Witchcraft practice is growing and indeed has been explored by anthropologists and other writers from the northern and southern hemispheres. However, there has been limited discourse on how and what Western Australian Wiccans and Witches learn. This ethnographic research fills that gap by exploring, in two separate sections, how Wiccans and Witches have developed relevant skills in a social learning structure and what ritual practice they have learnt as a result. The thesis proposes that the current theories of learning and ritual fail to adequately describe the social processes and outcomes observed.In the first section, focusing on how the participants learn, I argue that cognitive, behavioural and humanist learning theories as well as the most relevant social learning theory, Communities of Practice, fail to explain adequately the holistic learning processes with which the Wiccans and Witches are engaged. Instead I propose a new and complementary theory of learning that I identify as 'Whole Person’ theory that more effectively describes the holistic and intuitive nature of learning the research participants undertook.In the second section I go further to show that the existing theories of ritual fail to explore and consider ritual as a product or outcome of learning and instead focus heavily on ritual either as a process contributing to and reflecting the social order in which it takes place or they describe the structure of ritual. This research shows that ritual can be both a process of a social group as well as a product and an end result of learning and social interaction. The ethnographic materials presented extend our understanding of both learning and ritual.
2
Chaemsaithong, Krisda. "Linguistic and stylistic constructions of witchcraft and witches : a case of witchcraft pamphlets in Early Modern England /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/9413.
3
McGowan, Jennifer A. "Reading witches, reading women : late Tudor and early Stuart texts." Thesis, Bangor University, 2001. https://research.bangor.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/reading-witches-reading-women--late-tudor-and-early-stuart-texts(95b04f7a-96ca-48a2-a038-fb2671ab2476).html.
Abstract:
The introduction discusses the problematics involved in developing a feminist theory of late Renaissance and early modem witchcraft. It includes an overview of both Renaissance feminist theory and witchcraft studies, and posits that the witch is a hybrid, multivalent figure. Chapter one examines contemporary sources for portrayals of witches. The second chapter analyses the roles of witches, hags, and viragos in The Facrie Queene. Throughout the work their femininity is problematised, its meaning displaced onto horrific figures or fragmented into "good" and "bad" women. Both inspire dis-ease. Lyly's Endimion introduces a witch in the Thessalian tradition and women whose transgressions lie in daring to act and speak. Chapter three expands the definition of witch to other unruly women, including the shrew and the power-wielding woman; it also proves that Dipsas' power is the strongest in the play. Chapter four analyses the way in which the definition of witcheraft can be imposed on a woman by exterior societal forces, with reference to The Witch of Edmonton. Also discussed are the role of cursing and the problematics of female sexuality. Chapters five through eight discuss Shakespeare. Shakespeare's Joan of Arc is fragmented and reflects the varying views about her, and again shows how one woman may be variously defined. With Joan's death, Margaret of Anjou becomes the virile woman in the tetralogy. She and other women who share her verbal potency are condemned not only by the men in the plays but also by critics who erroneously take the negative view as definitive. Macbeth concerns itself with exploration of gender, androgyny, power (occult and otherwise) and its betrayal. Chapter eight outlines how the women in other Shakespearean plays do not achieve dramatic impact as witches because they are robbed of primary agency in the plays. Chapter nine demonstrates how Middleton distances his Heccat and proves that the real witches and villains lie in the structure of the patriarchy of The Witch. Lyly combines cunning woman with Sibyl in Mother Bombie; wit defines wisdom. Chapter eleven presents The Wise-Woman of Hogsdon, an anomaly in that the witchfigure and unruly characters of both sexes are not condemned and have happy resolutions. The conclusion summarises briefly and outlines areas of further study. Appendix A is a table; Appendix B outlines the role of cursing as gendered speech in Shakespeare's first tetralogy.
4
Tyrrell, Marc W. D. (Marc Wyly Douglas) Carleton University Dissertation Canadian Studies. "Strands of moonlight; an examination of the institutionalization process amongst Neo-Pagan Witches in Ottawa." Ottawa, 1992.
5
Gibson, Marion Heather. "Taken as read? : A study of the literary, historical and legal aspects of English witchcraft pamphlets 1566-1621." Thesis, University of Exeter, 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.361338.
6
Goff, Jennifer. "The Serpent in the Garden: How early-modern writers and artists depicted devils and witches." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1396523520.
7
Coleman, Alex. "Foul Witches and Feminine Power: Gendered Representations of Witchcraft in the Works of Shakespeare and His Contemporaries." Ohio Dominican University / OhioLINK, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=odu1562624942402741.
8
Shufelt, Catherine Armetta. ""Something wicked this way comes" constructing the witch in contemporary American popular culture /." Bowling Green, Ohio : Bowling Green State University, 2007. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=bgsu1194289705.
9
Cutler, Sylvia. "Salem Belles, Succubi, and The Scarlet Letter: Transatlantic Witchcraft and Gothic Erotic Affect." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2019. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/8583.
Abstract:
In order to reconcile the absence of sexually deviant witch figures (succubae, demonic women, etc.) within the formation of American national literature in the nineteenth century with the fantastic elements found in European variations on the gothic, my thesis aims to demonstrate transatlantic variants of erotic signifiers attached to witch figures in nineteenth-century gothic fiction and mediums across national traditions. I will begin by tracing the transatlantic and historical impact of Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger’s Malleus Maleficarum—an early modern handbook of sorts used widely in witchcraft inquisitions—on Early American witch trials, specifically where its influence deviates from a sexualized conception of the witch and where a different prosopography of the historical witch emerges. Next, I will assess a short sample of nineteenth-century American pulp fiction to demonstrate the historical impact of America’s erotically decoded witch type on fictionalized versions or caricatures of the witch. In doing so I hope to create a reading that informs a more transatlantically complex representation of The Scarlet Letter. Finally, in order to underscore the significance of these national and historical departures of The Scarlet Letter as a gothic novel, I will contrast Hawthorne’s novel with a selective reading of nineteenth-century gothic texts from England and France that employ the witch or demonic feminine motif in an erotically codified and fantastic setting, namely using Old World magic and history that draws from French and English traditions.To demonstrate the significance of erotically coded witches in the British tradition, I will briefly examine Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “Christabel” as a gothic text that relies heavily on the erotic affect encoded in the figure of Geraldine. I will also touch on Prosper Mérimée’s “La Vénus d’Ille” and Théophile Gautier’s “La Morte Amoreuse,” two remarkable short stories that highlight the sublime terror of sexually deviant, occult female figures. Through such a collection of readings of witches and erotic, occult women I hope to amplify a more latent theme underlying The Scarlet Letter and America’s conflicted relationship with the gothic tradition: namely its crucial lack of erotic enchantment as a channel for the experience of gothic affect, the fantastic, and even sublime terror.
10
Stamatopoulos, Konstantinos [Verfasser], Heinz-Günther [Akademischer Betreuer] Nesselrath, Stephen [Gutachter] Harrison, and Ulrike [Gutachter] Egelhaaf-Gaiser. "Embracing the Occult: Magic, Witchcraft, and Witches in Apuleius’ Metamorphoses / Konstantinos Stamatopoulos ; Gutachter: Stephen Harrison, Ulrike Egelhaaf-Gaiser ; Betreuer: Heinz-Günther Nesselrath." Göttingen : Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen, 2018. http://d-nb.info/1172970718/34.
11
Easley, Patricia Thompson. "A Gobber Tooth, A Hairy Lip, A Squint Eye: Concepts of the Witch and the Body in Early Modern Europe." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2000. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2646/.
Abstract:
This thesis discusses early modern European perceptions of body and soul in association with the increasing stringency of civilized behaviour and state formation in an effort to provide motivation for the increased severity of the witch hunts of that time. Both secondary and primary sources have been used, in particular the contemporary demonologies by such authors as Bodin, and Kramer and Sprenger. The thesis is divided into five chapters, including an Introduction and Conclusion. The body of the thesis focuses on religious, scientific, and secular beliefs (Ch. 2), appearance and characteristics of witches (Ch. 3), and the activities and behaviours/actions of witches, (Ch. 4). This study concentrates on the similarities found across Europe, and, as the majority of witches persecuted were female, my thesis emphasizes women as victims of the witch hunts.
12
Matthews, Michelle M. "MAGICIAN OR WITCH?: CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE'S DOCTOR FAUSTUS." Connect to this title online, 2006. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=bgsu1143482826.
13
Hyman, Ryan. "The Hartford area witch-hunts : 1647-1683 /." View abstract, 2000. http://library.ctstateu.edu/ccsu%5Ftheses/1590.html.
Abstract:
Thesis (M.A.)--Central Connecticut State University, 2000.Thesis advisor: Katherine Hermes. " ... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 80-89).
14
Stuever-Williford, Marley Katherine. "Hex Appeal: The Body of the Witch in Popular Culture." Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK, 2021. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1610295587336417.
15
Sparks, Amy M. "The white witch : Emily Dickinson and colonial American witchcraft /." View online, 1990. http://repository.eiu.edu/theses/docs/32211998880715.pdf.
16
Waldron, David. "The sign of the witch : neo-paganism and the romantic episteme." Thesis, The Author [Mt. Helen, Vic.] :, 2002. http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/62410.
Abstract:
"The central premise of this dissertation is that the process by which representations of witchcraft are formed within the neo-Pagan movement are indicative of the broader interrelationship of Romantic and Enlightenment themes in Western culture."Doctor of Philosophy
17
Martin, Lisa A. "Children, Adolescents, and English Witchcraft." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2005. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc4952/.
Abstract:
One area of history that historians have ignored is that of children and their relationship to witchcraft and the witch trials. This thesis begins with a survey of historical done on the general theme of childhood, and moves on to review secondary literature about children and the continental witch trials. The thesis also reviews demonological theory relating to children and the roles children played in the minds of continental and English demonologists. Children played various roles: murder victims, victims of dedication to Satan, child-witches, witnesses for the prosecution, victims of bewitchment or possession, and victims of seduction into witchcraft. The final section of the thesis deals with children and English witchcraft. In England children tended to play the same roles as described by the demonologists.
18
Durrant, Jonathan Bryan. "Witchcraft, gender and society in the early modern Prince-Bishopric of Eichstätt." Thesis, Royal Holloway, University of London, 2002. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.269755.
19
Kidd, Paul McCarry. "King James VI and the demonic conspiracy witch-hunting and anti-Catholicism in 16c. and early 17c. Scotland /." Connect to electronic thesis, 2004. https://dspace.gla.ac.uk/retrieve/542/04kidd%5Fmphil.pdf.
20
Dawson, Daniel Orson. "The witch : subversive, heretic or scapegoat? Legal reforms and abuses in England, Scotland and Europe, 1560-1650." Thesis, University of Kent, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.300938.
21
Bardell, Kirsteen Macpherson. "Death by 'divelishe demonstracion' : witchcraft beliefs, gender and popular religion in the early modern Midlands and north of England." Thesis, Nottingham Trent University, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.314233.
22
Igwe, Leo [Verfasser], and Ulrich [Akademischer Betreuer] Berner. "The Witch is not a Witch : the Dynamics and Contestations of Witchcraft Accusations in Northern Ghana / Leo Igwe ; Betreuer: Ulrich Berner." Bayreuth : Universität Bayreuth, 2017. http://d-nb.info/1140784293/34.
23
Castell, Granados Pau. "Orígens i evolució de la cacera de bruixes a Catalunya (segles XV-XVI)." Doctoral thesis, Universitat de Barcelona, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/131462.
Abstract:
La present recerca té com a objectiu l'estudi de la cacera de bruixes desenvolupada a Catalunya, des dels seus orígens a finals de l'època medieval fins a la seva articulació durant els primers temps moderns.
La investigació aporta, en primer lloc, un volum considerable de documentació judicial inèdita dels segles XV i XVI, la qual constitueix la base imprescindible per a una aproximació global a aquest fenomen històric. A partir d'aquest material i de les fonts ja conegudes, l'anàlisi s'ha estructurat sobre tres eixos principals. Primerament, s'aborden els elements que donaren lloc a l'estereotip de la bruixa durant l'època baix-medieval. Seguidament, s'estudien les primeres caceres desenvolupades a Catalunya durant les primeres dècades del segle XV, tot comparant-les amb els esments coetanis a nivell europeu. Finalment, s'analitza en detall la documentació judicial inèdita per mirar d'entendre l'articulació de la cacera de bruixes a Catalunya durant els segles XV i XVI.
La present investigació ha donat com a resultat la creació del primer corpus documental sobre els primers dos-cents anys de cacera de bruixes a Catalunya, evidenciant la riquesa documental del Principat per a l'estudi d'aquest fenomen. Així mateix, el treball ha permès arribar a una sèrie de conclusions sobre l'origen i articulació d'aquest fenomen a Catalunya en època medieval i moderna.
En primer lloc, destaca la importància dels canvis operats a finals de l'època baix-medieval en referència a la teologia i a les noves reflexions demonològiques, la influència de l'acció inquisitorial contra el maleficium i la seva influència en les cúries laiques, o el discurs anti-supersticiós desplegat per la predicació baix-medieval.
En segon lloc, la present recerca ha servit per constatar la precocitat, intensitat i duresa de la persecució de bruixes a Catalunya, un fet que remarca la seva singularitat en el context dels regnes hispànics. Aquesta situació aniria lligada a la pròpia situació político-jurídica del Principat, amb una forta autonomia de les autoritats locals i una manca de control per part d'institucions de justícia centralitzades, ja fos el Sant Ofici o la pròpia justícia reial. Catalunya seguiria així el model descrit per autors com Brian P. Levack, segons el qual aquells territoris amb un poder central fort i un sistema judicial centralitzat, haurien registrat una intensitat molt baixa de persecucions, amb una absència gairebé total de sentències a mort. Un model perfectament vàlid per al centralitzat i gairebé lliure de bruixes regne de Castella, i també, però just a l'inrevés, per al jurisdiccionalment fragmentat i ple de forques Principat de Catalunya.
Finalment, l'última de les conclusions derivades d'aquesta investigació fa referència a la importància del marc local en l'articulació de la cacera, amb un protagonisme destacat d'unes autoritats locals sovint esperonades per la pròpia població. Aquesta constatació ens allunya de concepcions historiogràfiques que vinculaven tradicionalment la cacera de bruixes als mecanismes d'Estat o a l'impuls de l'Església post-tridentina, enfrontats a una suposada cultura popular. En canvi, en el cas català, la persecució seria majoritàriament instigada per la pròpia població en un context de desgràcies com ara epidèmies, maltempsades i morts d'infants o bestiar. Una persecució judicial, doncs, que aniria de baix a dalt, iniciada en les pròpies comunitats a partir d'acusacions de malefici o emmetzinament i desenvolupada en el marc de les cúries locals, amb una subversió evident de l'ordre del dret, un ús habitual del turment i una gran predisposició a emetre sentències de mort.This research focuses on the Catalan witch-hunt, from its origins during the Late Middle Ages until its development during the Early Modern period. The research provides, in the first place, a considerable amount of unpublished witchcraft trials form the XVth and XVIth centuries, which becomes the basic ground for a global approach to this historical phenomenon. Through this material, together with the sources already known, we have structured the analysis around three main axes. First, we address the elements that formed the witch stereotype during the Late Middle Ages. Next, we study the firsts witch-hunts developed in Catalonia during the first decades of the fifteenth century, by also comparing them with other contemporary European sources. Finally, we analyze in detail the unpublished trials in the aim of understanding the articulation of the witch-hunts in Catalonia during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The results of this work include the creation of a first documentary corpus for the first two-hundred years of witch-hunts in Catalonia, thus revealing the abundance of sources in the Principality for the study of this phenomenon. Also, the work provides some conclusions about the origins and the development of this phenomenon in medieval and modern Catalonia. First, we emphasize the importance of the changes operated at the end of the Late Middle Ages, concerning both theology and the new demonological debates, as well as the inquisitorial action against maleficium and its influence on secular courts, or the anti-superstitious discourse deployed by Late Medieval preachers. Second, this research also proves the precocity, intensity and harshness of the witch persecution in Catalonia, a fact that stresses the Catalan uniqueness in the context of the Hispanic kingdoms. This situation of the Principality is due to its own political and judiciary status, with a strong autonomy of local authorities and a lack of control by centralized judiciary institutions, either the Inquisition or the Royal justice. On that sense, Catalonia follows the model described by authors such as Brian P. Levack, according to which those areas with a strong central government and a centralized judicial system, would have experienced a very low intense persecution, and an almost total lack of death sentences. A model which is perfectly valid for the highly centralized and almost witch-free kingdom of Castile, and also, only in the opposite way, for the jurisdictionally fragmented and full of gallows Principality of Catalonia. Finally, the last conclusion resulting from this research points to the importance of the local context in the development of the witch-hunt, with a prominent role played by local authorities, often spurred by the population itself. This observations moves us away from traditional historiographical conceptions that linked the persecutions with the State mechanisms or the post-Tridentine Church, both faced with an alleged popular culture. Instead, in the Catalan case, prosecutions would be mostly instigated by the people in a context of disasters such as epidemics, bad weather and deaths of children or cattle. A persecution, then, that appears to be bottom-up, initiated among the communities from accusations of maleficium or poisoning and then articulated in the context of the local courts, with a clear subversion of the legal order, a current use of torture and an acute predisposition to issue death sentences.
24
Konyar, Grace Elizabeth. "Empowering Popularity: The Fuel Behind a Witch-Hunt." Ohio University Honors Tutorial College / OhioLINK, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1490710757496863.
25
Matteoni, Francesca. "Blood beliefs in early modern Europe." Thesis, University of Hertfordshire, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/2299/4523.
Abstract:
This thesis focuses on the significance of blood and the perception of the body in both learned and popular culture in order to investigate problems of identity and social exclusion in early modern Europe. Starting from the view of blood as a liminal matter, manifesting fertile, positive aspects in conjunction with dangerous, negative ones, I show how it was believed to attract supernatural forces within the natural world. It could empower or pollute, restore health or waste corporeal and spiritual existence. While this theme has been studied in a medieval religious context and by anthropologists, its relevance during the early modern period has not been explored. I argue that, considering the impact of the Reformation on people’s mentalities, studying the way in which ideas regarding blood and the body changed from late medieval times to the eighteenth century can provide new insights about patterns of social and religious tensions, such as the witch-trials and persecutions. In this regard the thesis engages with anthropological theories, comparing the dialectic between blood and body with that between identity and society, demonstrating that they both spread from the conflict of life with death, leading to the social embodiment or to the rejection of an individual. A comparative approach is also employed to analyze blood symbolism in Protestant and Catholic countries, and to discuss how beliefs were influenced by both cultural similarities and religious differences. Combining historical sources, such as witches’ confessions, with appropriate examples from anthropology I also examine a corpus of popular ideas, which resisted to theological and learned notions or slowly merged with them. Blood had different meanings for different sections of society, embodying both the physical struggle for life and the spiritual value of the Christian soul. Chapters 2, 3 and 4 develop the dualism of the fluid in late medieval and early modern ritual murder accusations against Jews, European witchcraft and supernatural beliefs and in the medical and philosophical knowledge, while chapters 5 and 6 focus on blood themes in Protestant England and in Counter-Reformation Italy. Through the examination of blood in these contexts I hope to demonstrate that contrasting feelings, fears and beliefs related to dangerous or extraordinary individuals, such as Jews, witches, and Catholic saints, but also superhuman beings such as fairies, vampires and werewolves, were rooted in the perception of the body as an unstable substance, that was at the base of ethnic, religious and gender stereotypes.
26
Johansson, Tina. "Häxor vs. Häxor : En studie av häxor i TV-serier och deras motsvarighet inom wicca." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper (KV), 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-42167.
Abstract:
This essay examines how witches are portrayed in American produced TV-series in the year 2000 and forward, what elements could have effected that portrayal in the series and also how this portrayal differs itself from witches within Wicca. The material used for this examination are the TV-series Charmed, The Vampire Diaries and Witches of East End and as comparing literature; Living Wicca, The Spiral Dance and Witchcraft Today. The methods used for this process are discourse analysis and content analysis. I used theories of Pierre Wiktorin about religion and popular culture. I used three themes (Characteristics, Practice and mode of thinking) for the processing of the material and to structure the result. The results showed that the witches in the TV-series had a lot in common such as they were all women, they were born with their powers and the human life is sacred in comparison to other creatures that exist in the series. The comparison showed that there are significant differences between the witches in the TV-series and the witches in Wicca. Practicing witches within Wicca is part of a religion where rituals are of high importance and the Goddess and God are worshiped. These are the most important discrepancies that are not a part of witches in TV-series. The question about why the series are so similar has been analyzed with theories about moral panic and post-feminism to show how social structures can play a part in how TV-series are written. The conclusions that I have reached is that the witches in the series are portrayed very similar. They are all women, they have inherited their abilities as witches and they keep searching for love and are in a constant battle with evil. Elements that could have effected this portrayal are the theories about moral panic, that discusses the fighting against evil, and postfeminism, that discusses the love aspect and the fact that they are all women. The witches in the series and the witches within wicca are very different. The biggest one is the fact that wicca is a religion that involves rituals for the God and Goddess. This has no part of the portrayal of witches in the TV-series.
27
Brandenburg, Rachel Lynn. "Ceremonials: A Reclamation of the Witch Through Devised Ritual Theatre." Miami University / OhioLINK, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1556854180665756.
28
Crandall, Lisa. "Text A: Teasing Out the Influences on Early Gardnerian Witchcraft as Evidenced in the Personal Writings of Gerald Brosseau Gardner." Thèse, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/30196.
Abstract:
This thesis is an intensive, multi-layered analysis of an unpublished, English language, handwritten, mid-20th century manuscript. Originally undated, untitled and unsigned, it has now been positively identified as “Text A”, a Wiccan proto-Book of Shadows compiled by Gerald Brosseau Gardner (1884-1964) in the last half of the 1940’s. Different methodologies were applied to the document: transcription using Leiden conventions, handwriting analysis to identify the author, archival research to uncover photographs of the manuscript in use, historical and bibliographical research to situate the manuscript and its author, and finally, an in-depth and exhaustive source analysis to uncover literary and documentary influences on the text. Subsequently, the manuscript was identified as handwritten by Gerald Gardner, from 1940 to 1949, and contains almost no original material other than a handful of pages for a speech or oral presentation. The rest of the document is comprised of extracts from published sources available to Gardner. These include books on Free Masonry, Templars, British Folklore, Kabbalah, Magic – ancient and ceremonial, and books by Aleister Crowley. The document also includes ritual passages and ceremonies, most of which also appear in Gardner’s published novel, High Magic’s Aid. Two theme-lines, “Magic – ancient and ceremonial” and “the writings of Aleiser Crowley”, comprising almost 40% of the total page count, were chosen for thorough analysis. Based on the information revealed by the various methodologies applied to this document, one can assert that Gardner’s claims to have been initiated into an ancient indigenous tradition, Wicca, and to be making available its long secret rituals are not supported by this document.
29
Kuchuk, Nika. "From the Temple to the Witch’s Coven: Journeying West with Kali Ma, Fierce Goddess of Transformation. A Study of Contemporary Kali Worship in North America: Syncretism, Sacred Relationships, and the Gendered Divine." Thèse, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/23711.
Abstract:
This thesis explores the cult and mythos of the goddess Kali both in her Eastern and Western contexts, comparing and contrasting them in order to gain a better understanding of the Western appropriations of Kali within feminist goddess spirituality. Utilizing a variety of methods, including ethnographic research conducted at Kali temples in California, this research is aimed at providing an entry into the lived contemporary tradition of the Western Kali within goddess spirituality circles, focusing on embodied experience, devotion, ritual, and syncretic practices.
Kali, a fierce Indian goddess, is often seen in the Hindu context as a central manifestation of the all encompassing Mother Goddess (Mahadevi, Devi, Shakti, etc), and therefore is a particularly engaging example of contemporary Western appropriation of religious and cultural symbols and narratives. This thesis contributes to understanding Kali in her new North American domain, as well as serving as a case study of the shifting religious landscape in the West.
30
Kramer, William. "FILID, FAIRIES AND FAITH: The Effects of Gaelic Culture, Religious Conflict and the Dynamics of Dual Confessionalisation on the Suppression of Witchcraft Accusations and Witch-Hunts in Early Modern Ireland, 1533 - 1670." DigitalCommons@CalPoly, 2010. https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/327.
Abstract:
The European Witch-Hunts reached their peak in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Betweeen 1590 and 1661, approximately 1500 women and men were accused of, and executed for, the crime of witchcraft in Scotland. England suffered the largest witch-hunt in its history during the Civil Wars of the 1640s, which produced the majority of the 500 women and men executed in England for witchcraft. Evidence indicates, however, that only three women were executed in Ireland between 1533 and 1670. Given the presence of both English and Scottish settlers in Ireland during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the dramatic discrepancy of these statistics indicate that conditions existed in early modern Ireland that tended to suppress the mechanisms that produced witchcraft accusations and larger scale witch-hunts.
In broad terms those conditions in Ireland were the persistence of Gaelic culture and the ongoing conditions of open, inter-religious conflict. In particular, two artifacts of Gaelic Irish culture had distinct impact upon Irish witchcraft beliefs. The office of the Poet, or fili (singular for filid), seems to have had a similar impact upon Gaelic culture and society as the shaman has on Siberian witchcraft beliefs. The Gaelic/Celtic Poet was believed to have magical powers, which were actually regulated by the Brehon Law codes of Ireland. The codification of the Poet’s harmful magic seems to have eliminated some of the mystique and menace of magic within Gaelic culture. Additionally, the persistent belief in fairies as the source of harmful magic remained untainted by Christianity throughout most of Ireland. Faeries were never successfully demonized in Ireland as they were in Scotland. The Gaelic Irish attributed to fairies most of the misfortunes that were otherwise blamed on witchcraft, including the sudden wasting away and death of children. Faerie faith in Ireland has, in fact, endured into the twentieth century. The ongoing ethno-religious conflict between the Gaelic, Catholic Irish and the Protestant “New English” settlers also undermined the need for witches in Ireland. The enemy, or “other” was always readily identifiable as a member of the opposing religious or ethnic group. The process of dual confessionalisation, as described by Ute Lotz-Huemann, facilitated the entrenchment of Catholic resistence to encroaching Protestantism that both perpetuated the ethno-religious conflict and prevented the penetration of Protestant ideology into Gaelic culture. This second effect is one of the reasons why fairies were never successfully associated with demons in Ireland. Witch-hunts were complex events that were produced and influenced by multiple causative factors. The same is true of those factors that suppressed witchcraft accusations. Enduring Gaelic cultural artifacts and open ethno-religious conflict were not the only factors that suppressed witchcraft accusations and witch-hunts in Ireland; they were, however, the primary factors.
31
Barholm, Niklas. "Trulldom, Swartkonst och Diefwulshandlingar : En mikrohistorisk undersökning av kyrkans agerande under de svenska häxprocessernas första rättegång år 1668." Thesis, Södertörns högskola, Historia, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-33417.
Abstract:
The purpose of this essay is to explore actions of the representatives of the church during the first of the trials of what later developed to the great swedish witch-hunts between the years 1668–1676. The method of this study is microhistorical, where you look at local events that then can be applied on a bigger scale. The theoretical ideas applied are Michel Foucault theories of a society at war, and the dynamics between central power and peripheral power in that kind of situation. By applying these theories, the relations between central juridical directives and the enforcement of these in a local place can be studied. The main subject of interest for this essay is clerical representative Lars P. Elvius, who, during the trials, were the one responsible and the one the rest of the court relied on for interpreting the crimes of witchcraft, maleficum and other crimes of supernatural art. By looking at the directives and laws concerning witchcraft, how he interpreted the testimonies of the accused and what kind of verdict was given at the end of the trial, the relationship between central directives and peripheral enforcement is made clear. This study is part chronological and part thematic; the directives and laws presented first, followed by the interpretation during the trial categorized thematically, with correlating testimony and crime, and finally the verdict at the end of the trial.
32
Rivera, Alexandra. "Conjurer la Révolution : Sorciers, Païens et Justice Sociale dans la France contemporaine." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2019. https://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/1376.
Abstract:
Witches and pagans have long faced historical persecution from the Catholic church and other patriarchal systems of power. In the eyes of mainstream society, they have been reduced to fragments of ancient history and entertaining media stereotypes. Real practitioners of witchcraft and paganism have remained fairly marginalized and trapped in the shadows, but this is starting to change. Witches and pagans have begun to involve themselves in large-scale political movements, combining spiritual power with direct action. While this phenomenon has a longer track record in the United States, in France it is extremely new. France is a country that has an even deeper history of pagan origins and Inquisition witch trials, wih a currently conflicted religious dynamic of being both secular and Catholic. Therefore, the reclamation and practice of witchcraft within an activist setting has even more revolutionary significance. Because the basic tenets of most witch and pagan spiritualities emphasizes fighting oppression, witchcraft has attracted marginalized groups, especially the LGBT community. The occult offers valuable new ways of examining activism and social justice using spirituality and magic.
33
Slanker, Lindsey. "Demonic Possession and Fractured Patriarchies in Contemporary Fundamentalist Horror." Wright State University / OhioLINK, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wright1495803680104155.
34
Klassen, Chris. "Storied selves : technologies of identity in feminist witchcraft /." 2006. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:NR19802.
Abstract:
Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2006. Graduate Programme in Women's Studies.Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 257-270). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:NR19802
35
Stamatopoulos, Konstantinos. "Embracing the Occult: Magic, Witchcraft, and Witches in Apuleius’ Metamorphoses." Doctoral thesis, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/11858/00-1735-0000-002E-E51B-1.
36
Quilty, Emma Lachmi. "Everyday witches: identity and community among young Australian women practising witchcraft." Thesis, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1410860.
Abstract:
Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)This thesis investigates witchcraft as a social phenomenon, by focusing on the everyday practices of young Australian witches. The thesis explores wider questions about how young witches construct meaning through cosmological systems and ritual participation. Everyday practices are deeply embodied and connect to broader ideas of belonging and identity. To explore these practices and patterns of belonging, the thesis draws on twelve months of fieldwork. This fieldwork was conducted among young Australian women practising witchcraft in, primarily, Reclaiming witchcraft, though also incorporating women practising in other traditions. The majority of the young women interviewed for this study are in their early-to-mid-twenties, some of whom grew up in conservative Christian families, which affected the development of their spiritual identities, leading them into the world of witchcraft. The thesis draws on insider participant observation methods where the researcher became immersed in the community that is the focus of this study. This thesis examines the social and cultural dimensions of spirituality, through a witchy lens, rather than a secular or rationalist perspective. Through an analysis of witchy beliefs and practices, this thesis critically considers how witchcraft is lived in everyday contexts. It considers how women embrace witchcraft as a domain where they enact femininity in a way that is counter to patriarchal discourses. Through an analysis of cosmology and ritual, this thesis aims to illuminate how young women create a sense of belonging in their communities using the symbol of the witch. It aims to inform contemporary understandings of spiritual identity work. The thesis analyses witchcraft conceptual systems using metaphors to draw out the ways the young women intertwine witchyness into their everyday lives. One of the primary metaphors that came out of the analysis was weaving. Weaving emerges in the ways the young women intertwine themselves into a sense of sociality that encompasses the past, present and future, as well as human and non-human persons. From this web of witchyness, the thesis aims to inform current understandings of how young people understand themselves and their place in the world. Witchcraft represents an attempt to improvise on the historical threads they have inherited to create their own narratives. The young women in this study live these stories through seemingly mundane practices that become part of their everyday lives.
37
Ally, Yaseen. "Witchcraft accusations in South Africa : a feminist psychological exploration." Thesis, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/13863.
Abstract:
Despite the rationalism implicit in contemporary thinking, in many parts of the world like South Africa, belief in witchcraft exists and is a core belief, influencing the world-view of many people. In these contexts, witchcraft is believed to be responsible for every social experience including, illnesses, sickness and death. The witch-figure, imbued with jealousy, is believed to derive power to harm others with witchcraft through supernatural capacity and an association with the Devil. Witchcraft, it seems represents a theory of misfortune guiding the interactions between people and provides explanations, steeped in the supernatural, for almost every misfortune.
Extending on the commonly held notion of violence against women, this doctoral study reflects witchcraft accusations and its violent consequences as an under-represented facet thereof. This follows the fact that historic and contemporary accounts of witchcraft position women as primary suspects and victims. Accused of witchcraft, many women face torture and ultimately death, even today.
In this study it is argued that witchcraft accusations result from within a social context, supporting gendered relations that are powered. To this end, I apply a feminist psychological approach as a theoretical lens, allowing us to see witchcraft accusations as one strategy among those supporting male domination.
In the first chapter, I outline the feminist psychological approach as an appropriate lens to view witchcraft-related violence. The understanding of witchcraft accusations gained through the application of feminist psychological theory is then applied in the second chapter, focusing on news reports. A focus on the newspaper representations of witchcraft violence is vital, given the media’s influential role in the lives of many. Attention is then focused on understanding of witchcraft held by community members, usually responsible for the violent attacks on those accused. The final chapter locates the witchcraft experience with women so accused.
The purposeful repetition of theoretical points made in each chapter was essential. The repetition enabled me to apply the theoretical lens appropriately for each paper and to elaborate on the fundamental premise the PhD argues towards. The reader’s attention is drawn towards awareness of this purposeful repetition of the theoretical lens. It is imperative as together and separately, the chapters in this PhD, function to accentuate on an expression of gendered violence, steeped in a tradition supporting male domination.Psychology
D.Litt. et Phil.
38
Stone, Linda Gail. "Terrible Crimes and Wicked Pleasures: Witches in the Art of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries." Thesis, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1807/32905.
Abstract:
Early modern representations of witchcraft have been the subject of considerable recent scholarship; however, three significant aspects of the corpus have not received sufficient attention and are treated independently here for the first time. This dissertation will examine how witchcraft imagery invited discourse concerning the reality of magic and witchcraft and suggested connections to contemporary issues through the themes of the witch’s violent autonomy, bestial passions, and unnatural interactions with the demonic and the dead. These three themes address specific features of the multifaceted identity of the witch and participate in a larger discussion that questioned the nature of humanity. Analysis of each issue reveals a complex, ambiguous, and often radically open treatment of the subject that necessitates a revision of how witchcraft imagery from this period is understood.
Each understudied aspect of witchcraft imagery is explored through a series of case studies that have not appeared together until now. Previously unexamined artworks with inventive content are introduced and canonical pictures are examined from new perspectives. These images were created in the principal artistic centers, the Italian city-states, the German provinces, and the Low Countries, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries when the controversy over witchcraft was at its peak. Although they are few in number, these highly innovative images are the most effective and illuminating means by which to access these themes. These works of art provide valuable insights into important issues that troubled early modern society.
Chapter 1 reveals how witchcraft imagery produced in the Low Countries is concerned with the witch’s violent rejection of the social bonds and practices upon which the community depends for survival. Chapter 2 examines how the figure of the witch was used to explore concerns about the delineation and transgression of the human-animal boundary. Chapter 3 exposes an interest in the physical possibility of witchcraft; artists questioned the ability of witches and demons to manipulate the material world. Issues include the witches’ capacity to reanimate dead bodies and create monstrous creatures. Together these images demonstrate active and meaningful engagement with the theories, beliefs, and practices associated with witchcraft.
39
Rodrigues, Debbie June. "Funny little witches and venerable-looking wizards: a social constructionist study of the portrayal of gender in the Harry Potter series." Diss., 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/4774.
Abstract:
In this study I apply social constructionism as propounded by Vivian Burr (1998) to show that although J. K. Rowling uses stereotypes in the Harry Potter series as a reflection of how gender is constructed across a wide range of societal institutions in contemporary Britain, she created complex characters who on an individual level subvert social constructs and thereby offers her readers alternatives to culturally defined concepts of gender. I explore the all-pervasive social phenomenon of gender and examine how it is constructed in present-day Britain and reflected in the series (bearing in mind that the first book was published in 1997 and the last one in 2007). My analysis of female and male characters in the books, and their interpersonal relationships, shows that Rowling's often tricky portrayal of femininities and masculinities gives us an honest view of teenagers’ lives and contemporary gender relations in an ever-changing, complex world.English Studies
M. A. (English)
40
Valencia, Castrillón Andrea. "Las Brujas. Manual para la deconstrucción de un sujeto político." Master's thesis, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10362/50261.
Abstract:
Desde um sentir própio, procurar uma melhor compreensão acerca do enraizamento profundo da ideia do medo em relação á mulher, estabelecendo o ponto de partida para iniciar o delicado trabalho de desenredar uma apertada rede simbólica, fabricada em redor do sujeito mulher e seu devir.
Um denso tecido de sentidos cobriram praxis e epistemes que desde o feminino mobilizavam o mundo.
Assinalando a experiência da cristiandade como o processo e mediante o qual se impôs sobre o ethos das mulheres uma manta de desprestigio social, que ao longo dos séculos se foi tornando norma.
Abordarei, como a partir de o mito literário se universalizou a ideia do mal em relação as mulheres. As elaborações construidas desde o universo do simbólico, tornaram conflictivas as relacões da mulher com o seu corpo, problematizaram as suas experiências com o intimo, o pessoal e o publico.
Esta pesquisa pretende demonstrar como “ A experiência do medo” foi um empresa pedagógica assumida por formas perversas de manipulação teológica e política; As quais fundaram uma normativa misógena e patriarcal a partir de universos simbólicos.
Desde a instucionalidade , se concretou um estado de terror mediante o desenrolar de uma série de acções çegais que marcaram com fogo a historia das mulheres Finalizando, mostrarei como essa criação conceptual da “Bruxa Europeia” foi desenvolvida desde uma episteme do velho continente, que para a cosmovisão ancestral indigena ou africana, representou um objecto caricaturesco e mesmo “naif”. Desde esse mal estar, as possibilidades de descolonizar esta figura e capacitando-a a partir de um lugar de emancipação própio, foi a porta aberta ao encontro de algumas ferramentas de desmontagem dessa feminidade ficcionada.From a personal sense, seeking a better understanding about the idea of fear in relation to the woman, establishing the point of departure to begin the delicate work of unraveling a tight symbolic network, fabricated around the woman subject and her becoming. A dense tissue of senses covered praxis and epistemics that from the feminine mobilized the world. Remarking the experience of Christianity as the process and through which imposed on the ethos of women a blanket of social discredit, which over the centuries has become a norm. I will address, as from the literary myth, the idea of evil in relation to the women. The elaborations built from the universe of the symbolic, became the woman's relationships with her body into a struggle, and facing problems whit experiencing with the intimate, the personal and the public. This research intends to demonstrate how "The experience of the fear" was a pedagogic society assumed by perverse forms of theological and political manipulation; which founded a misogynistic and patriarchal norm from symbolic universes. Since the institutionalization, a state of terror has been achieved through a series of basic actions that marked the history of women with fire. Finally, I will show how this conceptual creation of the "European Witch" was developed from an episteme of the old continent, to the indigenous or African ancestral world view, represented a caricatured object and even "naif". Since this malaise, the possibilities of decolonizing this figure and enabling it to from a place of emancipation, was the door open to meeting tools to disassemble this fictional femininity. Proposing the Witch in America, as a political place to establish a confrontation of symbolic values, from the reestablishment of popular knowledge as a form of political "power".
41
Lin, ching ping, and 林敬蘋. "The Last Witch Doctor－The Change and Decline of Bunun traditional Witchcraft." Thesis, 2012. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/39297933073063856065.
Abstract:
碩士國立臺南藝術大學
音像紀錄與影像維護研究所
100
Participant observation by the author in the years 2001,2002,2003,2007, the Bunun Wanfeng Village Muluvaian clan’s witch doctors held a collection of magic ceremony, after “Manaqtainga” in April ,and after 2007 has participated in the ceremony of the of another Qalavangan clan, as the former controls. Bunun traditional witch beliefs can see how to conceal under in today's Christianity and modern medicine. Even though the traditional rites have been abolished, the life rituals has been Christian, but rationalize the continuation of the Bunun witch doctors understanding of faith is not broken, you can see the acculturation phenomenon of cultural change. Film production as a cross-cultural and reflect on their own process of exploration, We are pleased to see it out of the traditional anthropologist path.
42
Kugara, Stewart Lee. ""Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" : human rights implications of witch-hunt in South Africa and Zimbabwe." Diss., 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/11602/299.
43
Chaudhuri, Soma. "Tempest in a tea pot analysis of contemporary witch hunts in the tea plantations of Bengal /." Diss., 2008. http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/ETD-db/available/etd-07292008-211236/.
44
Tshamano, Humbulani. "Community perceptions of the role of women in witchcraft and witch-burning related incidents in Venda, 1989-1995." Thesis, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10210/10733.
Abstract:
M.A. (Historical studies)The years 1980s and 1990s saw a different kind of violence in South Africa, especially in Venda. South Africa's long history of violence was always associated with the anti-apartheid struggle and a good example of this was the 1976 student uprising in Soweto. During the 1980s and 1990s many people accused of practicing witchcraft were killed and the perpetrators were showered with praises from all quarters of the community. It is believed that the majority of those who perished were women. This was possible because the idea that witches were women had gained fertile ground both at Fefe, Tshiungani and also in academic work. Many academic writers and popular memory showed little interest in women's role in witchcraft killings. Only men were viewed as comrades. These are the perceptions that this research will attempt to disprove. At the end statements such as witches were not always women, women were not always passive and finally, women were also comrades will be made, therefore disproving perceptions that people might have nurtured all along. This will be made clear by focusing on two case studies involving witchcraft violence.
45
Rojas, Rochelle E. "Bad Christians and Hanging Toads: Witch Trials in Early Modern Spain, 1525-1675." Diss., 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10161/13429.
Abstract:
This dissertation challenges depictions of witchcraft as a sensational or disruptive phenomenon, presenting witch beliefs instead as organically woven into everyday community life, religious beliefs, and village culture. It argues that witch beliefs were adaptive, normal, and rational in regions that never suffered convulsive witch persecutions. Furthermore, this dissertation, the first to work systematically through Spanish secular court witch trials, upends scholars’ views about the dominance of the Spanish Inquisition in witchcraft prosecutions. Through a serial study of secular court records, this dissertation reveals that the local court of Navarra poached dozens of witch trials from the Spanish Inquisition, and independently prosecuted over one hundred accused witches over one hundred-and-fifty years. These overlooked local sources document witch beliefs in far greater detail than Inquisition records and allow the first reconstruction of village-level witch beliefs in Spain. Drawing from historical, anthropological, and literary methods, this dissertation employs a transdisciplinary approach to examine the reports from villagers, parish priests, and jurists, produced under the specific local and older accusatorial judicial procedure. Free of the Inquisitorial filter that has dominated previous studies of Spanish witchcraft, these sources reveal the way villagers—not Inquisitors—conceived of, created, feared, and survived in a world with witches and sorceresses.
Using these local sources, this dissertation illuminates the complex social webs of witchcraft accusations, the pathways of village gossip, and the inner logic of witch beliefs. It reveals the central role of Catholic performativity and the grave consequences of being marked as a mala cristiana, the importance of fama and kin ties, and reveals the rationality of the curious and pervasive presence of the common toad (Bufo bufo) in Navarra’s witch trials. By moving away from the prevalent focus given to the more spectacular witch panics and trials, this work demonstrates the value of local trial records. This dissertation argues that far from irrational or absurd, witchcraft beliefs in early modern Navarra were internally coherent and intellectually informed by an amalgamation of religious, social, and legal forces.
Dissertation
46
Kgatla, Selaelo Thias. "Moloi ga a na mmala (a witch has no colour) : a socio-religious study of witchcraft accusations in the Northern Province of South Africa." Thesis, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/17071.
Abstract:
Witchcraft discourse in South Africa has increasingly permeated all social structures, thereby becoming a real threat to the process of reconstruction and development. The neglect of witchcraft accusations and their resultant consequences can cause the country to lose all it
gained as a result of the liberation struggle. In this study I examine the historical developments of witchcraft accusations around the world in general, and in South Africa in particular as well as the threats they pose to society. I analyse five broad areas:
1) The inborn h tendency to scapegoat; jealousy; and the role religion plays in the
escalation of these problems;
2) The African world-view and its consequences on interpersonal relationships;
3) Colonial and missionary attempts to suppress the African world-view;
4) Ways and means of containing the conflicts arising from the witchcraft problem; and
5) Summary of findings.
The research was occasioned by the untold suffering victims of witchcraft accusations have to undergo in the three Northern Provinces of South Africa. Because of the cruelty and misery such accusations cause the poor people of these rural provinces urgent attention is
needed to contain them, especially since such accusations have not diminished despite all governmental efforts to curtail them. At the centre of witchcraft accusations there are stress, hatred, vindictiveness, and aspirations to become famous. The fear that one may be
victimised by either being accused of witchcraft or being bewitched is very real even today. The relevance of the study is apparent when one considers the feelings of helplessness that paralyses the opponent of this carnage, such as government and the churches.
A number of resources should thus be employed to counter would be put into it. This threat which is aggravated by the abject poverty prevalent in the rural communities of the three Provinces. The prevailing conditions of abject poverty play a definite role in the creation, promotion and escalation of the scourge. Policy makers should therefore have clear grasp of the extent to which poverty has influence on society in any effort to contain witchcraft accusations.
I conclude the study by ~ecommending transformational paths to the Government, NonGovernmental Organisations and other Community Leaders to follow in attending to improve the lot of the poor. This is done by highlighting ten findings that emerged during the study. The findings were the result of analyses of archival records, literature and case studies on witchcraft accusations. Because the subject of witchcraft is so wide and emotive I have employed several sociological and anthropological theories to cover as wide a field as possible. The
incorporation of so many theoretical approaches into the study presents on interpretive and analytical explanation of the causes, effects and containment of witchcraft accusations. The overall conclusion is encapsulated by the title of the study Moloi ga a na mmala (A witch
has no colour). A witch remains unidentifiable, but witch-hunters and sniffers know how to identify their witches. Although the process remains paradoxical, it is practised on a daily basis.Religious Studies & Arabic
D.Litt. et Phil. (Religious Studies)
47
Jurásková, Kamila. "Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard - pojetí čarodějnictví a jiných mystických fenoménů." Master's thesis, 2012. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-313591.
Abstract:
The diploma thesis deals with witchcraft and other mystic phenomena in conception of Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard. It is focused especially on the notion of witchcraft in connection with magic, shamanism and oracles. It describes relation of all these phenomena towards religious belief and various attitudes towards them. It defines respective practices and explains differences between them. Last but not least, it introduces usual reactions to them. Via concrete situation it also shows interconnection of all described phenomena and presents them as a coherent and logical system.
48
Moreira, Vânia Daniela Martins. "Bruxaria e a "caça às bruxas": abordagens sobre a sua trajetória ao longo da Idade Moderna." Master's thesis, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/1822/74242.
Abstract:
Dissertação de mestrado em HistóriaDesde tempos imemoriais que a magia está presente nas sociedades humanas. Não existem povos ou culturas, por mais remotos que sejam, onde não se encontre indícios da existência de práticas de feitiçaria, tratando-se, por isso, de um fenómeno universal. Para a população do início da Idade Moderna, a magia e a feitiçaria constituíam um modo de vida, pelo que os agentes mágicos — onde se inseriam a feiticeira e a bruxa — faziam parte do quotidiano da cultura europeia. As crenças na feitiçaria acabaram por coexistir e até se imiscuir com as convicções cristãs. Contudo, a Igreja, que sempre se insurgiu contra os desvios da fé cristã, começou a conceber a imagem de uma feiticeira diabólica, seguidora de Satanás. A figura da feiticeira difundiu-se pelo Ocidente e acabou por ficar estreitamente conotada à mulher, já que se acreditava que esta seria mais propensa à malícia e a práticas mágicas. Assim, entre os séculos XVI e XVII o continente europeu testemunhou uma obsessão relativamente à feitiçaria e à bruxaria, figuras que, a pouco e pouco, se foram tornando maléficas. Este fenómeno, designado comummente como "caça às bruxas", repercutiu-se à escala europeia, sendo por isso um problema ocidental. Contudo, verificaram-se discrepâncias relativamente à distribuição geográfica e cronológica dos processos de bruxaria: se determinadas regiões viveram uma verdadeira obsessão com a "caça às bruxas", noutras praticamente não se verificou uma repressão significativa. Neste contexto, insere-se o caso de Portugal, que se transformou num caso deveras à parte, não se tendo verificado uma repressão contundente relativamente às práticas mágicas.
Since immemorial times, magic has been present in human societies. There are no peoples or cultures, remote as they may be, where there's no evidence of the existance of witchcraft practices, wich is why it is a universal phenomenon. For the population of the early Modern Age, magic and sorcery constituted a way of life, so the magical agents — where the sorceress and witch were inserted — were part of the daily life of European culture. The beliefs on sorcery ended up for coexisting and even meddling with Christian convictions. However, the Church, that always insurged against deviations from the Christian faith, began to conceive the image of a diabolic witch, a follower of Satan. The figure of the sorceress spread throughout the West and ended up being closely connected to the woman, since it was believed that she would be more willing to evil and magical practices. Thus, between the 16th and 17th centuries, the European continent witnessed an obsession with sorcery and witchcraft, figures that, little by little, became increasingly evil. This phenomenon, commonly known as "witch hunt", had repercussions on a European scale and was, therefore, an Western problem. However, there were discrepancies regarding the geographic and chronological distribution of witchcraft processes: if certain regions experienced a real obsession with the "witch hunt", in others the was practically no significant repression. In this context, the case of Portugal is inserted, wich was transformed in a very singular case, and there was no forceful repression in relation to magical practices.
49
Calley, Jones Cris. "Magical Activism." Thesis, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10012/6785.
Abstract:
Lack of knowledge about the lived experience of leisure is a result of the distanced, objective way in which it has primarily been studied (Hemingway, 1999), and there is an increased interest in conceptualizing leisure as a dynamic force for social and political change (Shaw, 1994; 2001; Mair, 2002/03; Sharpe, 2008). Constructs such as resistance (Shaw, 2001), critically reflexive leisure (Mair, Sumner & Rotteau, 2008) and pleasure-politics (Sharpe, 2008) illuminate the role and potential of individual and collective leisure in social change.
Within a critical constructionist, qualitative research design, this study of witchcamps and magical activism was informed by feminist, queer, and leisure theories. Data were collected through participant-observation at 2 witchcamps, 21 semi-structured intensive interviews, 11 focused interviews, and 19 elicited electronic text submissions. This research reflects the emerging trend within leisure studies of using qualitative approaches and reflexivity to look at our own leisure (Axelsen, 2009; Collinson, 2007; Havitz, 2007; Lashua & Fox 2006; MacKellar, 2009; McCarville, 2007; Parry & Johnson, 2007; Rowe, 2006; Samdahl, 2008). As a member of the witchcamp community under study, the research was carried out in the researcher’s own community ‘backyard’ (Glesne & Peshkin, 1992), and as insider research, it provides a detailed description of alternative culture from the viewpoint of a professional researcher and personal insider. Data analysis followed a constant-comparative method, and employed memo writing, thematic, and focused coding.
The study provides insight into the intersection of leisure, ecospirituality, community, and social change. Setting, activities, beliefs, and community intersect to function as a container for personal and social transformation, and provide an ‘antidote’ to alienation and isolation experienced by individuals in the dominant culture. The study provides empirical evidence of the centrality of leisure to community responsibility for broader social, political and environmental concerns, as theorized by Arai and Pedlar (2003). This research furthers the perspective that community is multidimensional, and has the potential to unify marginalized groups (Arai & Pedlar, 2003). The findings of this study also reflect Mair’s (2006) conceptualization of community as one that provides a space for celebration of diversity.
50
Soares, Pedro Nuno Pestana. "Um estudo etnográfico sobre o acolhimento e reintegração social de crianças acusadas de feitiçaria em Angola." Master's thesis, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10071/12314.
Abstract:
Este estudo examina os processos de acolhimento, reintegração social e reunificação familiar de crianças acusadas de feitiçaria em duas instituições missionárias católicas de Angola: o Centro de Acolhimento de Crianças Arnaldo Janssen, em Luanda, e o Centro de Acolhimento Frei Giorgio Zullianelo, em Mbanza Kongo, província do Zaire. Desenvolve-se a partir de trabalho etnográfico realizado nestas duas cidades angolanas durante 2013 e procura explorar o papel da feitiçaria – e em particular das acusação dirigidas a crianças – nas reconfigurações sociais que têm marcado, desde 2003, o pós-guerra civil em Angola. Os resultados indicam que a problemática social das "crianças-feiticeiras" se articula intimamente com o debate sobre o lugar da etnia bakongo na sociedade angolana, e revela que, longe de serem elementos passivos neste processo, as próprias crianças podem instrumentalizar as acusações como forma de aceder a recursos e oportunidades que lhes permitem ascender socialmente. Estes resultados parecem ir ao encontro de outros estudos que, nas últimas décadas, identificam transformações profundas no estatuto e nos papéis da infância e juventude em vários contextos de crise pós-Guerra Fria na África Ocidental.This study examines the processes of hosting, social reintegration and family reunification of children accused of witchcraft in two Catholic missionary institutions of Angola: the Arnaldo Janssen Children's Shelter, in Luanda, and the Frei Giorgio Zullianelo Shelter, in Mbanza Kongo, Zaire province. It is based in ethnographic work carried out in these two Angolan cities during 2013 and explores the role of witchcraft - and in particular of accusations directed at children - in the social reconfigurations that have marked, since 2003, post-civil war Angolan society. The results indicate that the phenomenon of "child-witches" as a social problem is linked closely to the public debate about the place of the Bakongo ethnic group in Angolan society, and reveals that, far from being passive elements in this process, children themselves can use these charges as a way to access resources and opportunities that allow them to rise socially. These results seem to be in accord with other studies that, in recent decades, identify deep changes in the status and roles of children and youth in several post-Cold War crisis contexts in West Africa.