Suchergebnisse

Traces the link between human displacement & witchcraft allegations from the forced migration generated by the 17th century Salem Witch Trials to a 2007 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees report detailing witchcraft allegations that were plaguing refugee camps in southern Chad. Issues discussed include the importance of witchcraft allegations as a gender & protection issue in the context of refugee return, the regularity of such allegations, their use as a basis for asylum claims, & ways in which they hinder the protection of displaced persons. Adapted from the source document.

A professorial address at the U of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) in 1981 summarizes general & particular notions about witchcraft & sorcery: (1) Witchcraft is ascribed, sorcery achieved; this division assigns witchcraft to Fs, sorcery to Ms, to demonstrate superior M intelligence. (2) Where ancestral spirits are believed to discipline their descendants, the power used is identical to that utilized by witches; elders use this power licitly, witches illicitly. (3) The general assignment of witchlike qualities to women arises from the birth trauma, weaning, various childrearing practices, & womb envy by Ms. (4) There is a universal belief that witches' behavior is opposite from that of the normally socialized person; this belief in the power of reversal may arise from the child's observation that the omnipotent parent can change from affection to anger. (5) By believing in witches & behaving accordingly, people create conditions that will be diagnosed as witchcraft. (6) In Tanzania, the government policy of moving people forcibly into villages inevitably results in increased fears of witchcraft & in witch-finding movements. (7) Fears of witchcraft are a major hindrance to development schemes because of the concept of "limited good." (8) Witch beliefs do not occur in hunting-gathering societies nor in modern industrial societies, but all agricultural societies fear witchcraft. The crucial difference appears to be mobility rather than education. Nomadic-pastoral societies represent an intermediate condition where such beliefs are rarely serious. AA.

Whether the modern practice of Wicca can be prosecuted under medieval laws prohibiting witchcraft.