Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum’s book Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft is separated into 10 chapters: Prologue: What Happened in 1692; 1692: Some new Perspectives; In Quest of Community, 1639-1687; Afflicted Village, 1688-1697; Salem Town and Salem Village: The Dynamics of Factional Conflict; Two Families: The Porters and the Putnams; Joseph and His Brothers: A Story of the Putnam Family; Samuel Parris: A Pilgrim in Bethlehem; Witchcraft and Social Identity; and Epilogue: To the Eighteenth Century. Each chapter is subdivided into segments such as “Witchcraft”, “Stopping the Trials: Ministers and the Question of Evidence” and “The Development of Village Factionalism.”…
I believe that the two people that are mostly responsible for the witchcraft is Tituba and Abigail. Because they were both dancing in the woods naked. Also that they had a fire in the middle with a cooking pot and Betty had fainted during them dancing. Their is many quotes that prove that Tituba and Abigail did witch craft together.…
Although the majority of the afflicted during the Salem Witch Trials were women, some historians believe that the men of the village were the true driving force behind the trials. Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum are two such people, and in their book Salem Possessed: The Social Origins Of Witchcraft, they write about their discoveries concerning the long standing economic and political issues underlying the trials in Salem. Within their work, they split the citizens of Salem into two separate factions: those who wanted autonomy of Salem Village, led by the Putnam family, and those who were more interested in Salem Town, led by the Porters. At the most basic level, the feud starts with the tangible divide of land borders between the village…
Were Socioeconomic Tensions Responsible for the Witchcraft Hysteria in Salem? When conducting my research on the Salem Witch Trial era in the year of 1692, there seems to be the same question that people want answers to, which is what caused the Salem Witch trials?. When you sit-down and think about what happened, this kind of question can come to anybody mind naturally. But even though it seems to be an easy question, unfortunately, it seems that it doesn't have an easy answer. That Is why I will be comparing and analyzing three great people, co-historians, and an author, on their reports about the Salem Witch Trials.…
The general public of England was bereft about the possibility that the Devil would take over their lives and in so doing would bring about the downfall of England in the religious and political centers. So, they sought out those few who in their country were stirring up “schemes”; mainly the men and women that they believed were witches. In Peter Elmer’s book, Witchcraft, Witch-Hunting, and Politics in Early Modern England, he focuses on the political and religious atmosphere of early modern England and how this affected the fluctuation of witchcraft persecutions and eventually the demise by the 17th century. It is important to note that Elmer, is following a long line of authors who have written about the political emphasis of witchcraft,…
It was a way of trying to maintain the environment in a preindustrial, prescientific community. Part 3 - Describe the positive impact that this very superstitious world felt that white witches could…
What started as curious young girls playing with the idea of mysticism quickly escalated into one of the most infamous trials in United States history. The puritan community of Salem has become married to notions of hysteria, mystery, and dark magic. However, through the investigation of Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum in their book Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft, the roots of the trials are revealed to be community based. If the events of the witch-trials are seen as symptoms for socio-economic tensions between the Salem Town and Salem Village, a clearer picture begins to form of the events’ true motivation. By focusing on the divisions in the area within the set up of the town, factions within the village, and WHATEVER…
In the film “Three Sovereigns for Sarah” the accusation of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts started during the year of 1692 and was told from a sister of two women that were hung because they were accused of practicing witchcraft. The witch trials began when some little girls began to claim that they are possessed and accuse a bunch of the town's women of being witches. Six things that played a part in the witch trials were superstition, religion, politics, economics, gender, and the shaping of the event. There were 19 people who were hung and one was pressed to death for being accused of practicing witchcraft, before the town stopped the Reverend from killing people without having any real proof.…
It is important to establish the view of the Zande, the background behind their belief and how they were formulated. The Zande live in north central Africa with a concentration in Sudan of nearly half a million people with sources indicating a total Zande population to be nearly two million, the Zande have settled as craft workers in and around the lower Nile-Congo River gap.(Everyculture.com, 2016) As a distinct tribe in the heart of Africa, the Zande have encountered a fair share of adjustments to neighbours. Like numerous different encounters of incorporations, the Zande have seen trouble in framing collective set of ideals amongst its people.…
To comprehend the allure that Voodoo has on people, I need to understand what Voodoo is and its origin. In the article, “ What is Voodoo? Understanding a Misunderstood Religion,” published by The Huffington Post, Saumya Arya Haas notes that Voodoo originated in West Africa 6,000 to 10,000 years ago. It is a combination of African, Catholic, and Native American religions. Voodoo has no scripture.…
The Salem Witch Trials During the seventeenth-century, an outbreak of witchcraft struck Salem Village, Massachusetts. Was it really witchcraft or was it just petty children? Either way, this took a toll on the New England colony and influenced history greatly. There are many documents and cases that reveal how the hysteria began, how it continued, and abruptly ended.…
In Leslie Marmon Silko’s, Ceremony, Emo liked to point out the “dusty wind,” the white people had left with them and to say “’Look what is here for [the Indians]’” (23). Emo’s attitude toward the wind and the white people shows a desire to experience the white peoples’ lives rather than his own culture. Throughout the novel, Silko establishes that this desire is a product of witchery that the Indians created. Moreover, throughout the novel the appearance of wind often correlates with the appearance of witchery.…
Imagine a society in history that is super-constructive. Conservative apparel. Religious oppression. This time period in American history describes the New England Puritan society during the 17th century. Church, social standing, and basic respect all went hand in hand wihin these societies.…
Prior to the age of religious reformation and the Late Middle Ages, witchcraft did not hold such a negative connotation. In fact, it was divided into two – white magic and black magic. White magic was used by healers, wise men and women, as well as others who fit this category. Black magic, on the other hand, were practiced by those who sought to harm others, thus used their abilities for evil. It was this kind of magic that got a person labelled as a witch rather than the titles used for the practitioners of white magic.…
In the film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, the setting takes place in a magical world in London, England where the main characters attend a school named Hogwarts: School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In the film numerous characters and moments embody the theories Malory Nye point out in his book Religion: The Basics. Essentially, rituals and beliefs are prevalent in this film and the use of the theories can analyze such things. Examining Harry Potter using Arnold Van Gennep’s rites of passage, Edmund Leach’s theory of rituals and repetition, Claude Levi-Strauss’ ritualistic symbolism, and Malcolm Ruel’s definition of beliefs being “weak” and “strong” to convey that the aspect of the character’s lives basically comes down to the forming…