The Feast of the Sorcerer – Practices of Consciousness & Power (Paper): Practices of Consciousness and Power - Softcover

Kapferer, Bruce

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0226424138 ISBN 13: 9780226424132

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 1997

Synopsis

Sorcery has long been associated with the "dark side" of human development, along with magic and witchcraft. This text argues, however, that sorcery practices reveal critical insights into how consciousness is formed, and how human beings constitute their social and political realities. Kapferer focuses on sorcery among Sinhalese Buddhists in Sri Lanka to explore how the art of sorcery is deeply connected to social practices and lived experiences such as birth, death, sickness, and war. He describes in detail the central ritualism of exorcism, a study which challenges anthropological approaches to such topics as the sources of emotion and the dynamics of power. Seeking to overcome both "orientalist" bias and postmodern permissiveness, the book reframes sorcery as a pragmatic, conscious practice that, through its dynamic of destruction and creation, makes it possible for humans to reconstruct repeatedly their relation to the world.

About this title

About the Author

Bruce Kapferer is professor in the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Bergen, Norway, and honorary professor at University College London. He is the author of several books, including, most recently, Legends of People, Myths of State.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226424138
• ISBN 13: 9780226424132
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384