Two Styles In The Study Of Witchcraft - School ... May 2026

Witchcraft is a social mechanism used to explain "unfortunate events" (like a house collapsing or a crop failing) that lack an obvious cause.

This school, pioneered by in his 1937 study of the Azande people, views witchcraft as a logical and "intellectually consistent" system rather than a primitive superstition. Two styles in the study of witchcraft - School ...

Modern academic research on witchcraft is generally divided between two primary styles or "schools of thought": the and the Historical School . Witchcraft is a social mechanism used to explain

Earlier historians viewed witchcraft trials as a product of "religious fanaticism," while later 20th-century historians (like Keith Thomas and Alan Macfarlane ) began adopting anthropological tools to show that trials were actually driven by "bottom-up" interpersonal tensions in local villages. Two styles in the study of witchcraft - School ...