ANT204H5 Lecture 6: Police and Society
Document Summary
Witchcraft is a belief in the perpetration of harm by persons through mystical means. Belief exists in many cultures (africa, melanesia, asia, americas) Anthropologists try to define universal features of witchcraft but there is much variety in practices and beliefs. Witchcraft as definition of values and moral standards in society. The witch as a scapegoat for social hostilities. Giving up homicide: korowai experience of witches and police. Violence at the hands of the indonesian police who are agents of the. Korowai people of west papua have given up executing witchcraft through fear of indonesian police violence. The korowai are experiencing two different systems of violence in their communities: Anthropophagous witches: witches who feed on human flesh. Violence at the hands of the indonesian police who are agents of the indonesian government. Stasch is arguing that the korowai have their own models of the logic of violence. These are different from the model of violence exhibited by indonesian police.
