A case re-opened

The science and folklore of a 'Witch's Ladder

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2390949
AutoresChris Wingfield (0000-0002-8127-6548, University of Birmingham, UK, chris.wingfield@prm. ox.ac.uk, autor correspondente)
Ano2010
Volume15
Fascículo3
Páginas302-322
Data de publicação2010-09-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Material Culture (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1359-1835 • E-ISSN: 1460-3586
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1359183510373982
OpenAlexW2314831808
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas3
Referências citadas13

This article retraces the process by which a feathered rope, discovered in the roof of a house in Somerset, came to be displayed as a 'Witch's Ladder' in a glass case showing 'Magic and Witchcraft' at the Pitt Rivers Museum. This 'retracing' has revealed a set of alternative associations that the feathered rope has had: with other museum objects and written documents, as well as with a range of people. Although presented in the museum as a 'matter of fact', its original function is revealed to have been a 'matter of concern', enabling this 'object' to emerge from its glass case as a 'thing' (Latour). Retracing its network and the historical process by which it became a museum object has meant engaging with the scientific ambitions of E.B.Tylor and his notions of independent corroborating evidence, as well as with the more 'folkloric' practices of literary folklore

Art · Art history · Biology · Folklore · Linguistics · Literature · MAGIC (telescope · Object (grammar · Sociology · Witch · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · Culinary Culture and Tourism · Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies · History · Philosophy · Ecology