Author | E. E. Evans-Pritchard |
---|---|
Language | English |
Subject | Ethnography |
Publisher | Oxford: The Clarendon Press |
Publication date | 1937 |
Media type |
Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic Among the Azande is one of social anthropology's most noted texts. In this work E. E. Evans-Pritchard examines the witchcraft beliefs of the Azanade, a group of agricultural people in southern Sudan on the upper Nile. There are two main points he makes in the work. One is that witchcraft can be seen as a safety vale. A safety valve that releases potential harmful conflict into less damaging activities. The other is that it can be seen as an attempt to explain a complex alien world within in a society's own terms of reference. Together these make for a practical solution that is consistent and rational. [1][2][3]
The work was a development of his earlier (1928). Oracle-magic of the Azande. Sudan Notes and Records, 11, 1-53..
Evans-Pritchard, E.E. (1937). Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic Among the Azande. Oxford: The Clarendon Press