Every now and then someone asks this very random question: do you believe in ghosts?... Every now and then I watch these movies that include magic... What is magic? Does it actually happen/exist?
In the Western societies and most movies nowadays, magic is the Harry Potter with his wand or the beautiful fairy. Something or someone associated with unsual powers rather impossible and surreal, and most of us do not take these seriously... We all wish we could make things happen or add zeros to our bank accounts within one second...
There are however societies that do not perceive magic as flying stars, wishes becoming true etc. One of the societies are Azande people, who live in the north central Africa. Evans- Pritchard, a British famous anthropologist studied the Azande's culture and looked at their own "magic". In one of his books, he brought to our attention some interesting findings. "Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic Among the Azande" is a beautiful ethnography describing the Zande magic. Namely, Azande believe that every single unfortunate thing that happens in their lives is caused by witchcraft. And it's not some extreme events, but even situations such as getting ill or falling over. Witchcraft in their case is a form of science. And it is not something unusual, but a normal part of their existence, it's something everyone's aware of. In their society, there are witches - people causing harm not knowing they hold the responsibility. Anthropologocially speaking theare are two approches to the Azande witchcraft - 1] Azande find the meaning of the world in witchcraft 2]Witchcraft is a form of social control. We all have our own beliefs and notions, different cultures do things differently. Anthropology explores that and gives us goosebumbs... Do you believe in magic?
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just for clarification: Zande - singular, Azande - plural
ref:
- http://www.sciencecamps.psu.edu/images/cartoon_science_magic.jpg
