In The Witches, a rare moment of disappointment arrives when Schiff writes, “he seventeenth-century mind … consisted of a crazy quilt of erudition and superstition.” Medicine, we are told, “blurred into astrology, science into nonsense.” Witchcraft did not supplant, but it did complement, the logic of the physical world. And why did this particular wound refuse to heal?įor the boy, witchcraft explained the peculiarity of this injurious event.Įvans-Pritchard noted: The man and his companions were convinced disaster was caused by witchcraft. But why, he pointed out, had he hurt himself this time? He had walked safely in the bush hundreds of times. He knew that the wood caused the cut, and he knew that the wood grew naturally. It was natural for tree stumps to grow in the path. The anthropologist argued that the boy had simply been careless. The boy blamed witchcraft for the festering wound. Later, the anthropologist met a boy who had cut his toe on a stump of wood in the bush. The previous night, he had gone to check on the beer, and in darkness, had lit a handful of straw for light. He had been preparing pots of beer for a feast. One day, he came upon a hut burnt to the ground. Evans-Pritchard lived with the Azande in what is now South Sudan. Sign up for our newsletter to get submission announcements and stay on top of our best work.
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