Research Catalog

Title

Understanding witchcraft and sorcery in Southeast Asia / edited by C.W. Watson and Roy Ellen.

Publication

Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press, ©1993.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Watson, C. W.
• Ellen, R. F., 1947-
• Canterbury International Symposium on Southeast Asian Studies (1st : 1989 : University of Kent)

Description

viii, 222 pages : map; 25 cm

Summary

Witchcraft holds a perennial fascination for scholars and the public at large. In Southeast Asia malign magic and sorcery are part of the routine experience of villagers and urban dwellers alike, and stories appearing in the press from time to time bear witness to a persisting public concern. The essays presented in this volume describe what people believe and what actions result from those beliefs. Not surprisingly, given the range and variety of cultures, considerable differences exist in the region. Among some cultures, in Thailand and Indonesia for example, sorcerers are said to possess spirits that empower them to cause illness and misfortune. Elsewhere, in Malaysia and Sumatra, the power of the dukun derives from the accumulation of arcane knowledge and mystical practice. Contributors describe the witches and sorcerers they have met and suggest both how their societies look upon them and how we in turn should regard them. Understanding Witchcraft and Sorcery in Southeast Asia will appeal to scholars and students of social anthropology and comparative religion. Its substantial contribution to theoretical and comparative issues in a Southeast Asian context provides a fresh perspective on a stimulating topic.

Subject

• Witchcraft > Southeast Asia
• Magic > Southeast Asia
• Magic
• Witchcraft
• Hekserij
• Magie
• Witchcraft > Southeast Asia
• Magic > Southeast Asia
• Southeast Asia

Note

• Rev. papers presented at the First Canterbury International Symposium on Southeast Asian Studies, held at the University of Kent, Sept. 25-28, 1989.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Contents

The relativity of magical malevolence in urban Thailand / Louis Golomb -- Witchcraft, sorcery, fortune, and misfortune among Lisu highlanders of Northern Thailand / E. Paul Durrenberger -- Witches, fortune, and misfortune among the Shan of Northwestern Thailand / Nicola Tannenbaum -- Anger, anxiety, and sorcery : an analysis of some Nuaulu case material from Seram, Eastern Indonesia / Roy Ellen -- Social and symbolic aspects of the witch among the Nage of Eastern Indonesia / Gregory Forth -- Observations on the practice of sorcery in Java / Ronny Nitibaskara -- Sorcery and the law in modern Indonesia / Herman Slaats and Karen Portier -- Knowledge, power, and personal misfortune in a Malay context / Michael G. Peletz -- Return to sender : a Muslim discourse of sorcery in a relatively egalitarian society, the Gayo of Northern Sumatra / John R. Bowen -- Perceptions from within : malign magic in Indonesian literature / C.W. Watson.

ISBN

• 0824815157
• 9780824815158

LCCN

93005293

OCLC

• ocm28338230
• 28338230
• SCSB-9532863

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library