Ryan Schram's Anthrocyclopaedia

Anthropology presentations and learning resources

User Tools

Site Tools

You are here: start » 2667 » 7
2667:7

Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

Link to this comparison view

Both sides previous revisionPrevious revision
Next revision		Previous revision
2667:7 [2016/04/19 15:31] – [A brief history: John of the wilderness] Ryan Schram (admin)2667:7 [2021/06/29 02:27] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1
Line 11: Line 11:
 ryan.schram@sydney.edu.au ryan.schram@sydney.edu.au
  
-20 April 2016+26 April 2017
  
 Available at http://anthro.rschram.org/2667/7 Available at http://anthro.rschram.org/2667/7
Line 86: Line 86:
   to spread Christianity, for its own sake, and for reasons of   to spread Christianity, for its own sake, and for reasons of
   establishing a common language with other people for purposes of   establishing a common language with other people for purposes of
-  cooperation and trade.+  cooperation and trade. And slavery. Converts to Christianity in many 
 +  cases became slaves, and vice versa, often with the permission of 
 +  local elites.
 * It was not until the 19th century when European Protestant missions * It was not until the 19th century when European Protestant missions
   came. In this case they were working in the shadow of   came. In this case they were working in the shadow of
Line 133: Line 135:
   very prominent churches in southern Africa, called apostolic   very prominent churches in southern Africa, called apostolic
   churches (see Engelke 2007).   churches (see Engelke 2007).
 +
 +## Questions and answers ##
 +
 +* What are some research questions we can ask about Johane Masowe and Masowe Apostolic Churches?
 +  * A good research question will have more than one answer, and each answer will need an argument to explain why it is right.
 +* What are some possible answers, or thesis statements, that we can pose in response to these questions?
 +
  
  
Line 238: Line 247:
 * Is the witch typically male or female? * Is the witch typically male or female?
 * Is witchcraft always unintented or just covert? * Is witchcraft always unintented or just covert?
 +
 +## Witchcraft: a gold mine for social theory ##
 +
 +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 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 exist in an equilibrium, and is part of a process of
 +maintaining social equilibrium.
 +
 +## Witchcraft has not gone away ##
 +
 +People have long debated the persistence and growth of these beliefs in the postcolonial period. 
 +
 +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. 
 +
 +
  
 ## References ## ## References ##
  
-Engelke, Matthew. 2007. A Problem of Presence: Beyond Scripture in an +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. 
-African Church. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press.+ 
 +Engelke, Matthew. 2007. A Problem of Presence: Beyond Scripture in an African Church. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press.
  
 Evans-Pritchard, E. E., and Eva Gillies. 1976. Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande. Abridged edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Evans-Pritchard, E. E., and Eva Gillies. 1976. Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande. Abridged edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  
-Meyer, Birgit. 2004. "Christianity in Africa: From African Independent +Fortune, R. F. 2013. Sorcerers of Dobu: The Social Anthropology of the Dobu Islanders of the Western Pacific. Routledge.
-to Pentecostal-Charismatic Churches." Annual Review of Anthropology 33 +
-(1): 447–74. doi:10.1146/annurev.anthro.33.070203.143835.+
  
 +Meyer, Birgit. 2004. “Christianity in Africa: From African Independent to Pentecostal-Charismatic Churches.” Annual Review of Anthropology 33 (1): 447–74. doi:10.1146/annurev.anthro.33.070203.143835.
  
 +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.
  
 +Robbins, Joel. 2004. "The Globalization of Pentecostal and Charismatic
 +Christianity." Annual Review of Anthropology 33 (1):
 +117–43. doi:10.1146/annurev.anthro.32.061002.093421.
  
 +Synan, Vinson. 1997. The Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition: Charismatic
 +Movements in the Twentieth Century. Grand Rapids, Mich.:
 +Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.
  
 +Wilson, Monica Hunter. 1951. “Witch Beliefs and Social Structure.” American Journal of Sociology 56 (4): 307–13.
  
  
2667/7.1461105067.txt.gz · Last modified: 2016/04/19 15:31 by Ryan Schram (admin)