The Feast of the Sorcerer: Practices of Consciousness and Power

Kapferer, Bruce

ISBN 10: 0226424138 / ISBN 13: 9780226424132

Edité par University of Chicago Press, 1997

A propos de cet article

First printing (full number line). Softcover. Book condition is Very Good. Top of text block densely speckled. Stray pencil mark on back of last blank endpage. Text is in excellent condition - pages are bright, clean, and clear of writing, markings, highlighting, etc. Binding tight. Cover bumped at bottom corners and bottom of spine, with general wear along bottom edges. General minor shelfwear on cover otherwise.

N° de réf. du vendeur ABE-1743712797616

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: The Feast of the Sorcerer: Practices of Consciousness and Power
• Éditeur: University of Chicago Press
• Date de parution: 1997
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 0226424138
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9780226424132
• Reliure: Soft cover
• Édition: 1st Edition
• État de l'article: Very Good

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

Sorcery has long been associated with the "dark side" of human development. Along with magic and witchcraft, it is assumed to be irrational and antithetical to modern thought. But in The Feast of the Sorcerer, Bruce Kapferer argues 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 in fact deeply connected to social practices and lived experiences such as birth, death, sickness, and war. He describes in great detail the central ritual of exorcism, a study which opens up new avenues of thought that challenge anthropological approaches to such topics as the psychological forces of emotion and the dynamics of power. Overcoming both "orientalist" bias and postmodern permissiveness, Kapferer compellingly reframes sorcery as a pragmatic, conscious practice which, through its dynamic of destruction and creation, makes it possible for humans to reconstruct repeatedly their relation to the world.

À propos de l?auteur

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.