ANTHROP 2R03 Lecture Notes - Zande People, Convulsion, Witch Doctor
13 Apr 2014
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Document Summary
Evans-pritchard observed women urinating on them to contaminate/destroy oracle which renders it ineffective. But men hold greater social power than women. Witchcraft beliefs coincides with various strains in societies, stresses in societies: not random or logic of their own. Agree to try to mend frayed social relations: if someone died and the witch was known then sometimes the witch would be killed or the witch would have to give blood money, compensate family of the deceased. Before british colonization, oracle poison was fed to suspected witch and if you die/puke then you"re a witch. If you don"t enter convulsion or present any symptoms then you"re not a witch. They don"t care who individual witches are as long as they don"t bewitch anybody: normal people except they"re witches. Function of situations of misfortune, explains misfortune and function of personal relations: function of personal relations in that it encourages people to remain on good terms of one another.
