The Witch "She"/The Historian "He": Gender and the Historiography of the European Witch-Hunts

Whitney, Elspeth

doi:10.1353/jowh.2010.0511

Cited by 27 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 55 publications

(1 reference statement)

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“…The Indigenous beliefs about witchcraft’s deleterious effects on health, economics, and family legitimize witch-hunting. These beliefs are proven to be gendered, with statistics confirming that witch-hunting is also women-hunting (Kelkar & Nathan, 2020; Whitney, 1995). Witch-hunting, which is motivated by cultural ideas, is a form of violence that supports the masculine image of how a woman should behave in the home and society (Kelkar & Nathan, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Colonial civilizing mission, Indigenous resistance, and witch-hunting in Anvita Dutt’s Bulbbul (2020)

Tripathi

2023

AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples

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Shashank Sinha, in his research on the practice of witch-hunting in the Adivasi (Indigenous or tribal) community of Chhotanagpur, Bengal, India, infers that witch-hunting as a practice was infused with gender and anti-colonial tensions. Relying on his data and findings about the unexpected surge of witch-hunting among the Indigenous people of Chhotanagpur, this research conducts a discourse analysis of the film text of Anvita Dutt’s film Bulbbul (Nightingale) (2020). Bulbbul explores the clash between the conventional gender roles assigned to Indian women and evolving socio-cultural standards around the equality of rights for women in the late 19th century. The film is a feminist stance on the politics of labelling rebellious women as witches and removing them through motivated witch-hunting. Through a close reading of Bulbbul, this article concludes that witch-hunting is a conscious Indigenous resistance and cultural politics in response to colonial civilizing missions in India by the British.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Colonial civilizing mission, Indigenous resistance, and witch-hunting in Anvita Dutt’s Bulbbul (2020)

Tripathi

2023

AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples

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“…Balfe, 1978;Barstow, 1994;Garrett, 1977;Heinemann, 2000;Hester, 1992;Honegger, 1979;Karlsen, 1998;Moia, 1979;Norton, 1984;Thickstun, 1988;Westerkamp, 1993). In a seminal essay, Elspeth Whitney made the key argument that the assumption of a universal misogyny to 'explain' the gendered element of witchcraft actually removes gender from serious consideration in the historiography of witch-hunting (Whitney, 1995). This is particularly surprising, given the extent to which the social history of witchcraft is now so often written 'from below'.…”

Section: Theorizing Witchcraft and Societymentioning

confidence: 99%

Why Salem Made Sense: Culture, Gender, and the Puritan Persecution of Witchcraft

Reed¹

2007

Cultural Sociology

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Sociological explanations of the Salem witch trials, and of witch-hunts in the West more generally, have focused on economic transition, political instability, and the functional aspects of witchcraft belief. A more interpretive approach to the explanation of Salem is proposed: an analysis of the intersection of the gendered symbolization of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts and the larger tensions within Puritan culture at the close of the 17th century. A broad theoretical implication of this interpretive shift is also proposed: that a cultural-sociological approach to witch-hunting as symbolic action can bring together feminist theorizations of witch-hunting as an exercise in patriarchal power with the social history of the broad, structural causes of witchhunting in pre-modern Europe and New England.

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“…The results in such cases are disappointing. 104 Arguments have been advanced attempting to demonstrate certain female occupations -such as midwifery -put women at risk. 105 The assertion sounds feasible but the assembling of hard evidence to support the claim is altogether wanting.…”

Section: Feminist Scholarshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Traditions and Trajectories in the Historiography of European Witch Hunting

Fudgé¹

2006

History Compass

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Witchcraft and witch hunting formed a social and intellectual tradition in early modern Europe. Arguments persist as to what extent that tradition was invented. This article reviews the schools of thought and directions within the study of European witchcraft in the period between 1450 and 1750. The contributions of modern scholars from the nineteenth century up to the present are reviewed. Key arguments, important publications, and representative research, together with teaching resources are covered. This historiographical review focuses on three issues: the understanding and exercise of power across the social, political, and religious cultures of early modern Europe; the prevailing problem of inconsistency hindering the development of a single explanatory model; and thus the advantage of micro‐history.

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The Witch "She"/The Historian "He": Gender and the Historiography of the European Witch-Hunts

Abstract: that witches were beUeved to be women, has remained, for most scholars,

Cited by 27 publications

References 55 publications

Colonial civilizing mission, Indigenous resistance, and witch-hunting in Anvita Dutt’s Bulbbul (2020)

Colonial civilizing mission, Indigenous resistance, and witch-hunting in Anvita Dutt’s Bulbbul (2020)

Why Salem Made Sense: Culture, Gender, and the Puritan Persecution of Witchcraft

Traditions and Trajectories in the Historiography of European Witch Hunting

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