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Witch-hunting is a global concern in contemporary times for its serious violation of human rights and gender discrimination. In witch-hunt, although, both male and female are accused as witches, it is women who are targeted more as witches. The paper through the lens of semiotics, examines the law and gender issues in context of witch-hunting that is prevalent across cultures such as Africa and India. In this regard, it examines how law reacts to semiotics of cultural meaning of 'witch' and practices of witchcraft in context of India. Are the laws exercised uniformly across cultures in context of witchcraft accusations? The paper argues that in deciding a case, the laws are interpreted by the community with shared meanings and assumptions on the concepts of witch and witch-hunt. The paper based on the fieldwork on witch-hunting cases in districts of Kokrajhar and Chirang in Assam, in India among the Bodos and Santhals communities; attempts to examine the efficacy of anti witch hunt laws. Firstly, it analyses the motive behind the introduction of witch-hunt laws in colonial India. It examines whether the British laws were accepted or rejected by the indigenous communities. Secondly, post-independence, anti-witch-hunt laws were passed in different states of India including Assam to tackle witch-hunts. Thirdly, the paper discusses the efficacy of anti-witch-hunt laws in Assam by examining at two levels: the execution of law and community perception of law. The laws are executed if there has been death in witch-hunting. In cases, where there are no deaths, the justice focuses on restorative justice and paternalistic advice by officials, village elders as the authority of the village. There are observations on how higher officials believe witch-hunt is an act of superstition whereas the lower rank officials belonging to local community executes the order but hold the beliefs in witchcraft as real. In earlier times, the community perceived witch-hunting as socially sanctioned violence and used social boycott as form of social control on the alleged witch. It is due to taking the matter into their hands, there were highest unreported cases of witch-hunting. However, the irony is that according to anti-witch hunt law, now, the community feels that the accuser or perpetrator is the accused in the eyes of the law and the victim of witchcraft accusations is protected by the law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing upon a cultural-historical reading of the witch, we discuss how modern capitalism is chronically haunted by obstreperous vestiges of what preceded it yet remains proficient in assimilating all that returns to challenge it. By adapting and extending a theoretical toolkit informed by Jacques Derrida and Mark Fisher, we trace market and state administrators' co-optation of the primeval witch figure and her ideological trappings: initially, to expropriate those who threatened incipient modernising structures; later, to provoke increasingly secularised subjects towards consumption; and eventually, to calibrate rather than obviate capitalist expansion so that it remains aligned with consumer interests. Introducing the new concepts of 'retrocorporation' and 'marketplace revenant', we discuss how long-foreclosed, ancient imaginaries become re-invoked and re-programmed to perpetuate capitalism's dominance. Our message for the nascent tradition of 'Terminal Marketing' is that the collision and collusion of past and future has the potential to ossify capitalist realism in the present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Academic Social Science Studies is the property of Journal of Academic Social Science Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Cuadernos del Centro de Estudios de Diseño y Comunicación is the property of Cuadernos del Centro de Estudios de Diseno y Comunicacion and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Bulletin of the Institute of Ethnography of the Serbian Academy of Sciences & Arts / Glasnik Etnografskog Instituta SANU is the property of Institute of Ethnography, SASA and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Imaginaires is the property of Universitaires de Reims and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

"This Circle is a Mercle" explores the creation of a meadow-sized pentacle terra form artwork conceived by Tracy Tidgwell, Deirdre Logue, and Allyson Mitchell. Originating from a chant at a gathering of queer witches, the term "mercle" symbolizes the miraculous nature of communal connection. The pentacle seeks to reclaim the extraordinary as an accessible, intimate, reflexive, shared experience. It offers pathways and gestures of reconciliation with the land, each other, and our histories of and presence with colonization. The pentacle invites participants into a walking meditation through themes: love, connection, grief, accountability, and healing. Documented through photos and image descriptions, "This Circle is a Mercle" extends its transformative potential beyond its physical form, fostering connections across time and place and embodying principles of accessibility and care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cuadernos del Centro de Estudios de Diseño y Comunicación is the property of Cuadernos del Centro de Estudios de Diseno y Comunicacion and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The contemporary teen witch figure is conceived of and represented in a way that is interrelated with young adult media culture. Through an examination of the show Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, as well as teen witches in popular culture, contemporary alternative spirituality, and witch hunts in mediaeval Europe, I explore how the extra-ordinary girl figure like Sabrina the witch is culturally and historically symbolic of how care practices become defiant amidst capitalism. I draw connections between the teen witch, the teen girl in contemporary North American society, and ideology within the context of care as resistance to capitalism. Through textual analysis of Sabrina, qualitative research, and a brief discussion of the relevant socio-historical background, I emphasize that the teen witch figure today must be read within the context of capitalism and neoliberalism. Moreover, the multiple methods I use illuminate the various ways the defiant girl's care can be both valorized and weaponized. I draw upon real and fictional girls to demonstrate that there is a link between the fictitious co-opted witch in contemporary popular media and real women who were labelled witches around the emergence of capitalism. I explore the significance of the show Sabrina, alongside socio-cultural phenomenon of present-day alternative spirituality and the 'witch' of feudalism in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lilith has radically changed since she first appeared in ancient Mesopotamia and late antique Babylonia. Medieval Kabbalists situated her as the mother of demons and a murderous succubus, she was a muse to nineteenth century European poets and artists, and radical feminists in the 1970s reclaimed Lilith as the embodiment of female emancipation. This article critically examines four cross-cultural manifestations of Lilith, including Lilith as the "hand of Inanna," Eve's lesbian lover, genetrix and protector of children, and a trans divinity, and expands upon Creed's theory of the "monstrous-feminine" to present a unique type of feminism that has emerged from Lilith's cultural history: monster feminism. This brand of feminism is a praxis that arises from within groups marginalized by patriarchal gender roles that mobilize the monstrous as a way of resisting structural violence. These genealogies also show the way her evolution over time has been a dynamic and iterative process, rendering her a constellation of ideas rather than a single coherent figure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The co-authored text by Luka Šešo and Danilo Trbojević represents a unique comparative analysis of ethnographic material, relating to the form, role, and status of demonological traditions in rural communities of Croatia and Serbia. The research focuses on the relationship between folklore and the belief systems woven into the traditions of rural communities with varying demographic structures, historical experiences, cultural identities, and social realities centered around the ideas of local ontologies defined by coexistence with supernatural beings and phenomena. These communities are, in the context of this study, viewed through the lens of adaptability to coexistence with the global cultural flows of the postmodern world. Through understanding the impact of the broader social, political, and cultural context on the cultural identity of local communities, the authors aim to contribute to the understanding of the influence of changes (both local and global) in the cultural and social environment on the needs, aspirations, and logics of community members crucial for the survival, form, and status of the world of supernatural beings in rural imagination.

Sarah Daniels’ın Byrthrite adlı oyunu on yedinci yüzyıl İngiltere’sinde geçer. Oyunun geçtiği dönemde Avrupa’da “cadı” olarak yaftalanan kadınlar, büyü yaparak insanlara zarar vermekle itham edilirdi. Ayrıca ebeler de büyüye başvurarak bebekleri öldürdüklerine inanıldığı için sıklıkla olağan suçlular arasındaydı. Oysa ki Byrthrite’ta cadı olarak anılan kadınlar ataerkil baskılara karşı direnç göstermeyi amaçladıkları için suçlanırlar. Oyun, ataerkiden bağımsız olmaya çalışmak, sanat ve tarihle ilgilenmek gibi konular üzerinden kadınların uğradığı baskıları da resmeder; ancak asıl vurgu yirminci yüzyılda ortaya çıkan üreme teknolojisinin kadınlar için ne gibi korkutucu durumları beraberinde getirebileceğidir. Bu noktadan hareketle, çalışmada, ataerkil toplumlarda kadın bedenine yönelik baskının zamanla azalmadığı, teknolojik gelişmelere paralel olarak biçim değiştirdiği fikri ele alınır. Makalenin amacı, oyundaki “cadı,” “cadılık,” ve “ebe” kavramlarına odaklanarak, bu kavramlarla tıbbi teknoloji ve ataerkil toplumlarda kadın bedenine yönelik baskılar arasındaki paralellikleri göstermeye çalışmaktır.

The memorial sources provide relevant information about the lives and personalities of the characters mentioned, while also shedding light on controversial issues concerning the role of the Enchantresses in folk culture and medicine. The memorial confession of Iuliana Popa – the young student who knows how to charm – contains important data about the personality of some of the Enchantresses from the village of Slobozia, Gârceni commune, Vaslui county. Although most of the information is more in the realm of the past, some magical therapy practices are still widespread in the community. In the protagonist’s perception, the distinction between proper Enchantresses who believe in God and witches who are on the opposite side of the Christian faith is quasi important. Of particular value are the local traditions and customs that give charm and originality to the community of Slobozia village

Copyright of Studies in Oral Folk Literature / Estudis de Literatura Oral Popular is the property of Universitat Rovira I Virgili and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Witchcraft beliefs have been the cause of some of the cruellest crimes against vulnerable groups, particularly the elderly, in many African societies since the pre-colonial era. People accused of being witches are often subjected to all manner of mistreatments – ostracism/banishment, discrimination, physical assault or torture, lethal violence and so on. However, there are rare instances where the hunted (the accused witches) turn the tables on the hunters (their accusers) with claims of defamation, but such legal battles tend to be complicated. The present study explores the Ghanaian courts' attitude towards witchcraft-related defamation claims/lawsuits, examining how they have navigated the complex and often confusing system of legal pluralism since the 1970s. It establishes that mere insults and name-calling, including witchcraft accusations, are generally not actionable under the received common law. However, under the Ghanaian customary law, insults and name-calling that impair or are likely to impair one's dignity are actionable per se. The paper notes that the courts in Ghana at times apply the principles of both customary law and the received common law when dealing with witchcraft-related defamation claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of early modern images of witchcraft interpret the motif of hybrid creatures as representations of demonic incarnations intended in part to demonstrate the artists' inventive prowess and capacity for phantasia. This article broadens the scope of analysis by arguing that the hybrid functions as a prolific site of reflection on the symbolic analogy between art and witchcraft, highlighting the common creativity attributed to the artist and the magician both. A comparative analysis of Italian, German, and Dutch images produced in the long sixteenth century identifies three distinctive aspects of the hybrid: as the offspring of Circe's magic of transformation in the works of Pellegrino Tibaldi and Annibale Carracci, as the figurative expression of witchcraft-associated features in Jacques de Gheyn II's engraving, and as an artistic invention in a theatrical design after Raffaello Gualterotti and an engraved grotesque ornament by Heinrich Aldegrever. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Literature & Humanities / Edebiyat ve Beşeri Bilimler Dergisi is the property of Ataturk University Coordinatorship of Scientific Journals and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This is a film review of Leilani's Fortune (2024), directed by Loveleen Kaur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kazakh Turks have a rich epic tradition. Kazakh versions of Köroğlu narratives also reflect the cultural richness of Kazakh people in this epic tradition. Demonic creatures in oral culture keep the narrative alive. The witch, one of these demonic creatures, has similarities in the cultures with the physical features depicted. The witch, who is thought to be the equivalent of evil and is always scary, appears as a being who is asked for help when anybody is in trouble in the epic. In the epic, the witch interpreting dreams and telling fortunes is a being to be referred to. In this study, the ear of the witch in Köroğlu Epic in the Kazakh Version, which is one of her physical features and described as different from the normal ear and it is emphasized that this situation is an indicator of the witch's superiority over the others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bram Stoker gave breath to Count Dracula in his Gothic, connecting historical correlation to his creative approach. An account of mystery and realism imbibed within an epistolary novel that dates back to a specific historical context of fifteenth-century Romania. This paper focuses on the revelation of facts and fiction regarding how a prince was souled in the soulless Count, and how Stoker sew traits in common with differences as a medium of suspense thriller, developing a diary of a moving historical figure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I have always considered Kate Bush my Hecate and PJ Harvey my Circea..., fantasized, that is. From one to the other, it is magicians and witches that I would like to focus on here, or rather their becoming, in a "research experiment" that takes these women-artists as materials to work with, to think about. I thus would like to link them to the yardstick of the witches/sorcery studies and the haunting – even of a witches/sorcery studies of the haunting. Through them and through their appetite for the obscure, the magical, the transgressive, the secretive, I would like to draw a path where creation, text, sound, body, voice, image, presence, but also freedom, resistance, empowerment, form a feminine praxis, without concession, where spells do work.

The relationship of wu (巫) to shamanism is problematic, with virtually all mentions of historical and contemporary Chinese wu ritualists translated into English as shaman. Ethnological research is presented to illustrate cross-cultural patterns of shamans and other ritualists, providing an etic framework for empirical assessments of resemblances of Chinese ritualists to shamans. This etic framework is further validated with assessments of the relationship of the features with biogenetic bases of ritual, altered states of consciousness, innate intelligences and endogenous healing processes. Key characteristics of the various types of wu and other Chinese ritualists are reviewed and compared with ethnological models of the patterns of ritualists found cross-culturally to illustrate their similarities and contrasts. These comparisons illustrate the resemblances of pre-historic and commoner wu to shamans but additionally illustrate the resemblances of most types of wu to other ritualist types, not shamans. Across Chinese history, wu underwent transformative changes into different types of ritualists, including priests, healers, mediums and sorcerers/witches. A review of contemporary reports on alleged shamans in China also illustrates that only some correspond to the characteristics of shamans found in cross-cultural research and foraging societies. The similarities of most types of wu ritualists to other types of ritualists found cross-culturally illustrate the greater accuracy of translating wu as "ritualist" or "religious ritualist." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Dynamis is the property of Dynamis - Facultad de Medicina de la Universidad de Granada and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This essay proposes adaptation as a teaching strategy with which students can explore deeper understandings of any drama, using the case study of Medea by Euripides. By assigning comparative analysis of (translations of) Euripides' play alongside two twenty-first century adaptations written by Chicanx playwrights Luis Alfaro (Mojada) and Cherríe Moraga (The Hungry Woman), I invite students to uncover dramaturgical discoveries through considerations of what I have called "the spirit of the source," alongside analyses of the palimpsestuousness of the dramas and my spectator-based model of adapturgy. I argue that Medea's traits and actions of unbecoming emerge as a thread connecting all versions of the eponymous plays, a theme rarely recognized by students without the revelations provided by adaptation pedagogy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we shall examine some major religious roles for women in West Bengal, India, and the challenges they must face. Among the Santals, an Adivasi group, religious women must avoid being called witches, for women's power is seen as dangerous and religious social roles are traditionally forbidden to them. Some women have been called by deities to become trance mediums, colloquially known as 'bhar ladies', and this role is generally not accepted by family members. Girls have had to undergo exorcisms by male healers to get them to renounce the gods that have called them to this role, while married women must deal with husbands who do not want their wives going into public trances. Many such women have learned tantric practices to control the trance possession. In rural areas, the combination of ascetic practices and stories known as bratas (vratas) are taught to young girls by female leaders called ayes. However, in more urban areas, this role has been taken over by male brahmin priests. We also see women in the bhakti tradition, who run ashrams and lead worship and who must deal with male devotees who question a woman's leadership abilities. All of these involve challenges, and many of these women have developed strategies to deal with the difficulties of being a religious influencer in their societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Witchcraft beliefs are a major cause of violence against vulnerable groups in many African countries. People accused of being witches are often ostracised/banished, physically assaulted, tortured, and/or murdered. However, there are rare instances when persons accused of being witches sue their accusers for defamation. In such cases, the courts are often invited to address whether witchcraft imputations amount to defamation and, if so, under what circumstances. The present study explores the Anglophone African courts' attitudes towards witchcraft-related defamation claims, examining how various judicial bodies in five countries—Botswana, Ghana, Namibia, South Africa, and Tanzania—have navigated the convoluted and sometimes confusing system of legal pluralism since the 1970s. The study shows that courts in various African countries apply several principles when resolving witchcraft-related defamation claims. However, they generally concur that recklessly imputing witchcraft to a person necessarily impairs that person's dignity and is actionable per se. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Academic Social Science Studies is the property of Journal of Academic Social Science Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article examines the demonological beliefs of the Lusatians that correspond with beliefs among the Eastern Slavs. In the East Slavic region, there is a chain of related beliefs all the way to the Russian North-West. This is a chain of archaic areas: Carpathian, Polesie, and Belarusian-West Russian. One such Lusatian-North Russian parallel is demonstrated by the image of Lady Midday (Noonwraith, Noon Witch). Among the Lusatians and Russians, this female mythological character has a number of common features, and some of the similarities noted four hundred years ago by the Dutch scientist Marcus van Boxhorn have survived to our time in the North Russian tradition. The second parallel is connected with a fl ying fi ery serpent. The varying colour symbolism of the snake, dependent on the gifts (money, grain, milk) that it carries to its owner, is represented in the lower Lusatians, in Chernigov Polesie, some areas of Belarus, and neighbouring southern Russia. In the area of the Russian- Ukrainian borderland, the colour loses its signifi cance or loses its variability, becoming a characteristic of the objects that snakes scatter as bait for women, and only sometimes does the colour of the snake itself appear in these tales. In the West- and Northwest Russian tradition, the colour loses its variability and dependence on the gifts brought to the owner, and colour becomes a constant characteristic of the serpent (in one case, while maintaining a relict connection with grain as one of the types of gifts), or, while maintaining the same set and variability, is transferred from the snake to the hidden legs of the snake where it receives new symbolic meanings. The third parallel concerns some of the details related to the stealing of milk by witches in the fi eld: they collect grass for their cows from nine other people’s borders and collect dew using horse harnesses according to the Lusatians, as well as in western Ukraine, in western Polesie, in the Smolensk province, and further, in a modifi ed form, among the Russians of the Oryol and Kostroma provinces. Owing to its position on the outskirts of the Slavic world, the Lusatian folk tradition retains a number of features that are invaluable for historical, cultural, and ethnogenetic reconstructions.

World history is the history of rebellions and revolts experienced since the devil’s rebellion against God, described in holy books. Among the most striking examples of this turbulent and dynamic process are man’s revolt against the church with Renaissance, people’s against the king with French Revolution, and women’s against patriarchal order and men with Modernism. The rights not given to the rebels by their rulers are indeed behind all these rebellions. In fact, the last one is referred to as a women’s rights struggle that started in the 19th century and spread to the 20th century in western culture. Anne Sexton, with her poem titled “Her Kind” and analysed in our study, presents her works as one of the cornerstones of American women’s poetry in the last century. In this poem in which she challenges the roles of obedient housewife, chaste mother and faithful wife imposed on women for thousands of years due to Eve archetype, Sexton also opposes the social exclusion, accusation and stigmatization of women who get rid of these roles shaped by traditional male perspective. She writes the manifesto of the free and independent woman by stating firmly on the last line of each stanza “I am her kind”. In our study, the manifesto that Sexton produces in this poem is examined with a focus on its precursors, and it is concluded that this rebellion actually stemmed from long years of obedience. Writing with the belief that God imposes this obedience on women with His holy books, the state with its laws, society with its traditions and men with their physical and economic power, Sexton rejects all these traditional and stereotyped female identities, secondary to men. Thus she proves to be one of the iconoclast female figures of the 20th century, thereby writing her name in the history of women’s struggle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although previous research has investigated consumer mythopoesis (consumers' identity work using marketplace myths), little is known about its enactment involving ambiguous myths. Here, we investigate the myth of the witch (predominantly depicted by dominant mythmakers as a villain but recently repositioned more positively) and describe how consumers reclaim the empowering and heroic aspects of the ambiguous witch myth. Based on a qualitative study using archival data and in-depth interviews with self-proclaimed witches, we argue that the witch's ambiguity originates in different mythopoetic cycles. Then, we describe the following processes through which consumers reclaim positive cycles: incarnating the myth, coming out to selected others and practising myth-related craft. Finally, we show that reclaiming results in new forms of heroic agency that amplify the myth's ambiguity and identity value. Our results reveal that consumers cope with market-wide paradoxical injunctions, stressful situations and marginalisation by transforming these pressures into acts of self-heroism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At Saltburn Folk Festival 2021 in the North of England our folk group Patchwork performed S.J. Tucker's song, Witch's Rune, in tribute to 'witches' killed or mistreated. The performance and tribute inspired me to find out about the 'witches' of the North York Moors where I live: their names and lives, how they were treated, their legacy and how to fairly present them today in educational and artistic projects. Records consulted ranged from books of local folklore to unpublished handwritten historical documents. Two firsthand accounts in particular - George Calvert's (1823) and Rev. J.C. Atkinson's (1891) - provided names, locations, living conditions and stories of some of the women who were branded as 'witches' during the nineteenth century. 'Wise men' ('wizards') from those times were also named and recorded; wise men were believed to have supernatural powers that could counter the witches' influence. Healing potions and magical practices of North York Moors 'witches' recorded in the nineteenth-century were found to be similar in kind to those recorded from much earlier Anglo-Saxon communities (fifth to eleventh centuries), indicating a continuity and adaptation of traditional practices handed down over 1,000 years or so. Resistance to change in this remote moorland area is presented as one reason for the practice of witchcraft surviving so long despite the rise of science and modern medicine. Fear of witches and belief in magic was rife in the local community in the mid-nineteenth century. The witch stereotypes passed down to us today were initiated through the demonisation of witches by the medieval Christian Church in an effort to stamp out paganism. The isolation of the North York Moors helped to insulate the area from the famous witch hunts and witch trials happening elsewhere, but close reading of collected local witch stories hint at ostracisation and violence at a village level towards powerless, generally older women branded locally as 'witches', who had few alternatives for making a living. A legacy of the healing practices of local historic 'witches' is found in the herbal and alternative health practitioners in the area today, and spiritually in modern nature-based philosophies and religions, including modern Paganism. This paper strips away witch stereotypes to reveal real people practising witchcraft in the North York Moors well into the nineteenth century and their prolonged persecution. It supports fleshing out their historical records, bringing justice to the 'witches' by representing them through educational and artistic initiatives, and re-education to stop witch-hunts within local communities around the world today. 'Patchwork' will continue to sing S.J. Tucker's song together with a tribute, informed by this paper, to the local witches of Blackamoor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The show Charmed (2018-2022) features a trio of sisters as protagonists. They are the charmed ones, the most powerful witches in the world. From the start, the youngest is presented as holding characteristics traditionally attributed to females. In the Halloween episode of the first season, she casts the spell "Glamours" to decorate the whole house and dress up as Cinderella. Like Cinderella, this good witch is also constantly saved by her love interest and acts as a "soul nurse." Her empathetic magic, connected to emotions, adds to this characterization infused with femininity. But, in her arc development, she resists being rescued by male characters, survives an abusive relationship, and fights demons that personify patriarchal oppressions. As it occurs in Magical Feminism, the protagonist models an empowered woman, and when she allows herself to feel anger, her magic is amplified. Following advances and contradictions, the paper analyzes how femininity and female power are negotiated from this witch's narrative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Anthropologia Integra is the property of Masaryk University, Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Science and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Edad de Oro is the property of Departamento de Filologia Espanola de la Universidad Autonoma de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Muiraquitã: Revista de Letras e Humanidades is the property of Muiraquita and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this article, the acceptance of women as “shaman” in North and Central Asian Shamanism in the Middle Ages and as “witch” in Continental Europe in the Late Middle Ages in healing practices, their causes and consequences are examined. Historical evidence and indicators of the fact that mankind is interested in its environment at every period of the cultural process, is interested in unknown, mysterious and mystical events and wants to be present in them are discussed. Nowadays, more are regarded as superstition, magic, in the historical process mystical, mysterious and society in extraordinary ways “the secret forces”, as most fundamentally treatment (healing) for the purpose of making, carrying, over time, that can not be achieved in known ways to achieve things, to harm someone, or a team to protect from harm and the secret mystical practices using nature and the laws of nature are applied for the purpose of influencing force are discussed with examples. It has been revealed that spells and magicians were called by different names at different times and geographies. It has been determined that shamanism and witchcraft, which are based on magic and healing (healing) and developed within this framework, also exist with opposite perceptions in different geographies and affect societies. On the other hand, it has been seen that the roles, duties and responsibilities assigned to the sexes determine the positions of men and women in society. In line with these roles, women were sometimes seen to be deified, and sometimes they were thought to be the main source of evil. In this direction, the women who applied the healing practices were evaluated as good in the position of shaman and bad in the position of witch. Shamans and Witch as the determination and evaluation of the social position of women in two different locations and two different identity to represent two contrasting phenomenon, the perception of women in society and history, which shows that this difference can vary how much we think it is important for women and contribute to. For this reason, the paper tries to show that women, who exist in all areas of society, are generally representations of two opposite concepts (good-evil) in different societies as shamans and witches. It has been discussed why the woman who heals the sick with the identity of a shaman is considered sacred and represents goodness, while the woman who initially heals is considered cursed with the identity of a witch and represents evil. Thus, the positioning of women in the context of shaman/witch, good /evil has emerged as an example of the opposite roles that they impose on individuals of the same gender in two different cultures. At the same time, the paper aims to determine how and to what extent the perception of women varies from society to society. In short, this study, which affected at different times and societies are shaped with the same basis, despite the fact that the craft barn and different from the properties of the perceived women as shamans and witch contributions to society through representation in a broad historical perspective of the good and evil are examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Projustice is the property of Business Intelligence Club, o.z. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai, Historia is the property of Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this article, we propose an educational path to learn mathematics in the framework of the European Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students (ERASMUS) project developed in an Italian high school class on the topic of the contribution of women in science. The choice of the educational path fell on Maria Gaetana Agnesi and the particular curve, the "versiera" (witch), studied by her. During the experimentation, the students have been divided into four groups, each one taking care of particular aspects of the human and cultural experience of Maria Gaetana Agnesi, and the construction of her famous curve under different mathematical registers: the geometric, algebraic, analytical, mechanical and computer science, as well as non-mathematical ones such as the gestural and voice registers. The effectiveness of the proposed educational path was evaluated through interviews with the students during the course and at the end of the activities. All the students, even those less skilled in mathematics, have shown enthusiasm and satisfaction by recognizing the mathematical object, the "witch", presented by using different languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anna Biller's highly stylized Technicolor homage The Love Witch (2016) follows the titular witch Elaine in her relentless pursuit of romance. Renegotiating feminine sensibilities in relation to cinematic pleasure, the film challenges the established gendered visuality of gaze, fantasy and cinema through a politics of masquerading. By utilizing the mask (and the witch wearing it) as a challenge to gendered visuality, the film reworks the cinematic staging of femininity, suggesting that Elaine's attempt at becoming a man's ultimate fantasy is subsumed by the force of her own desire. Elaborating this logic of (un)masking with the help of excessive femininity and a lavish mise-en-scène, The Love Witch reanimates the icons and genres of the 1960s/70s screen, only to invest these aesthetics with the vantage point of a powerful female protagonist. Biller hence explores and pushes the frames of past cinema, contouring the ambitious (and sometimes murderous) women and witches that have always inhabited these spaces without exposing them to the generic punishment of symbolic erasure. Humorously producing a "glitch" in the staging of cinematic femininity, The Love Witch thereby creates a setting against which subversions of gendered positionality on screen can be probed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]