Magic, (colonial) science and science studies

Magic, (Colonial) Science and Science Studies

Bibliographic Data

ID19003930
AuthorsMargaret J Wiener (0000-0002-0479-4579, Department of Anthropology; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Chapel Hill NC 27599-3115 USA, corresponding author)
Year2013
Volume21
Issue4
Pages492-509
Publication date2013-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0964-0282 • E-ISSN: 1469-8676
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1469-8676.12042
OpenAlexW2116715820
LanguageEN
Citations received17
References cited20

This article draws on Latour's ethnography of science, analysis of the Great Divide and call for a symmetrical anthropology, to follow magic's emergence as a modern category. The focus is ethnology in colonial Indonesia. Tracing a practice initially known as , it analyses five successive Dutch texts. Early texts show that could affect Europeans but purify 's effects as either natural or cultural/psychological. In later texts, that translate as magic, references to Europeans, efficacy and substances vanish; is simply a culturally specific belief. Terming practices magic has ontological and political consequences; irreduction offers an alternative to analytic habits that yield magic

Archaeology · Colonialism · Epistemology · Ethnography · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Anthropology · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies · History · Law · Philosophy

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