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Witchcraft, Shamanism, and Nostalgia. A Review Essay

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The Empty Seashell: Witchcraft and Doubt on an Indonesian Island, by NilsBubandt (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2014), xv + 293 pp.
Tragic Spirits: Shamanism, Memory and Gender in Contemporary Mongolia, by ManduhaiBuyandelger (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013), xxi + 314 pp.
Sorcellerie et prophétisme en Centrafrique: L'imaginaire de la dépossession en pays banda, by Andrea CerianaMayneri (Paris: Karthala, 2014), 257 pp.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2016

Peter Geschiere
Peter Geschiere*
Affiliation:
Arizona State University
*
P.L.Geschiere@uva.nl
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Extract

The study of witchcraft seems to be globalizing in many respects. Not only are witches themselves supposedly globalizing, but the people who try to study them are also adopting a more global outlook. Moreover, witchcraft as a topic is no longer tied to specific areas of the world, but seems to crop up everywhere. For this essay I purposely chose three recent studies, out of a wide array of possible books, which come from very different parts of the world. Reading them comparatively can highlight key trends in this field, and also important differences.

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Type
CSSH Discussion
Information
Comparative Studies in Society and History , Volume 58 , Issue 1 , January 2016 , pp. 242 - 265
Copyright
Copyright © Society for the Comparative Study of Society and History 2016 

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