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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.

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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