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powerlessness, exploitation and the soul‐eating witch: an analysis of Badyaranke witchcraft
Author(s) -
SIMMONS WILLIAM S.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
american ethnologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.875
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1548-1425
pISSN - 0094-0496
DOI - 10.1525/ae.1980.7.3.02a00040
Subject(s) - witch , soul , argument (complex analysis) , state (computer science) , sociology , political science , ethnology , criminology , philosophy , epistemology , ecology , biochemistry , chemistry , algorithm , computer science , biology
Conflict between village peasants and the modern state is associated with increased concern with witchcraft. Villagers accuse one another of witchcraft and do not accuse the state bureaucrats with whom they have many unresolved grievances. The argument is that in accusing one another of witchcraft the village peasants are displacing conflicts with more powerful outsiders. [Senegal, religion, witchcraft, social change, symbolism]