Status Updates From Streghe: Una storia di terr...

"In 1640 one John Gothrey appeared before the presbytery at Perth and told it that he had likewise been kidnapped by fairies, and taught healing spells with them by a little lad who claimed to be John's own brother, stolen by the fairy folk as a baby."

Counter to pop psy, where witch hunting is thought to be a symptom of structural misogyny, witches are thought to manifest among either gender in non-European societies. More surprisingly, neighbouring tribes can hold conflicting beliefs about the supposed gender of witches, and despite this, fear the gender of the tribe that they are temporarily visiting (male-ascribers fearing females witches and vice versa).

Already an exceptionally good piece of work. I was worried that this book was going to be pop woo. Instead I'm on page 10 and this guy has introduced his global data set of no less than 200 societies across every continent. Haven't even got to the historical record yet. Great blend of comparative anthropology and history.

Finally finished Part 1: Deep Perspectives. It included the following chapters:

The Global Context
The Ancient Context
The Shamanic Context

Not an easy book....