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1002:4.1.1 [2019/10/17 20:29] – [Quiz: Where does a functionalist perspective take you?] Ryan Schram (admin)1002:4.1.1 [2019/10/20 20:46] – [The function of witchcraft] Ryan Schram (admin)
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-# Death +# "No man dies without a reason" 
  
-## Death +## "No man dies without a reason" 
  
 Ryan Schram   Ryan Schram  
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 Go to Canvas and take //Quiz no. 18: What kind of theory is functionalist?// The code will be announced in class. Go to Canvas and take //Quiz no. 18: What kind of theory is functionalist?// The code will be announced in class.
  
-## Functionalist explanations of society---You're soaking in them!+## Functionalist explanations of society—You're soaking in them!
  
 You have already encountered explanations of cultural practices in terms of their function to maintain society.  You have already encountered explanations of cultural practices in terms of their function to maintain society. 
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 * The expectations of preparing particular kinds of school lunches **function to reinforce** cultural expectations for women as members of nuclear families. * The expectations of preparing particular kinds of school lunches **function to reinforce** cultural expectations for women as members of nuclear families.
 * The competitive reciprocal exchanges between big men **function to support** a distinct system of leadership based on big men's networks of followers. * The competitive reciprocal exchanges between big men **function to support** a distinct system of leadership based on big men's networks of followers.
 +
 +In each case, we did not consider what the purpose of these practices were. **"Function" is not "purpose."** Rather we examined how they fit together with other patterns to create a coherent system.
  
 ## The function of witchcraft  ## The function of witchcraft 
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 Social anthropologists loved talking about witchcraft and sorcery. It seemed a perfect test case for their ideas about social **function**: Social anthropologists loved talking about witchcraft and sorcery. It seemed a perfect test case for their ideas about social **function**:
  
-* Witchcraft and sorcery functions in relation to ideas about egalitarianism. Only equals bewitch each other (Fortune 1932).+* Witchcraft and sorcery function in relation to a society's egalitarian ideology. People bewitch their social equals out of jealousy that they might be gaining prestige and authority (Fortune 1932).
 * Witchcraft is a way of mediating social conflicts (Nadel 1952). * Witchcraft is a way of mediating social conflicts (Nadel 1952).
 * Witchcraft is a collective representation of deviance itself, the "standardized nightmare" of the society (Wilson 1951: 313). * Witchcraft is a collective representation of deviance itself, the "standardized nightmare" of the society (Wilson 1951: 313).
  
-Witchcraft exist in an equilibrium, and is part of a process of +Witchcraft exist in an equilibrium, and is part of a process of maintaining social equilibrium.
-maintaining social equilibrium.+
  
 ## Witchcraft has not gone away ## Witchcraft has not gone away
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 Some, like Comaroff and Comaroff (1999), argue that they are not a belief in magic at all, but a diagnosis of the real workings of neoliberal global capitalism in Africa.  Some, like Comaroff and Comaroff (1999), argue that they are not a belief in magic at all, but a diagnosis of the real workings of neoliberal global capitalism in Africa. 
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 +## References
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 +Comaroff, Jean, and John L. Comaroff. 1999. “Occult Economies and the Violence of Abstraction: Notes from the South African Postcolony.” American Ethnologist 26 (2): 279–303. doi:10.1525/ae.1999.26.2.279.
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 +Evans-Pritchard, E. E. (1937) 1976. Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande. Abridged edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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 +Fortune, R. F. (1932) 2013. Sorcerers of Dobu: The Social Anthropology of the Dobu Islanders of the Western Pacific. London: Routledge.
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 +Nadel, S. F. 1952. “Witchcraft in Four African Societies: An Essay in Comparison.” American Anthropologist 54 (1): 18–29. doi:10.1525/aa.1952.54.1.02a00040.
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 +Wilson, Monica Hunter. 1951. “Witch Beliefs and Social Structure.” American Journal of Sociology 56 (4): 307–13.
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