Ebook: Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion: An Anthropological Study of the Supernatural

This comparative reader takes an anthropological approach to the study of religious beliefs and practices, both strange and familiar. The engaging articles on all key issues related to the anthropology of religion grab the attention of students, while giving them an excellent foundation in contemporary ideas and approaches in the field. The multiple authors included in each chapter represent a range of interests, geographic foci, and ways of looking at each subject. Divided into 10 chapters, this book begins with a broad view of anthropological ways of looking at religion, and moves on to some of the core topics within the subject, such as myth, ritual, and the various types of religious specialists.

FEATURES OF THE SEVENTH EDITION

* Six of the fifty-seven articles are new. Preceded by all-new introductions, most of these articles are by classic authors in the discipline, including John Beattie, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Barbara Myerhoff, Roy Rappaport, and G. Reichel-Dolmatoff. Also new are an article on Islamic pilgrimage and an updated article on Haitian vodou.

* Numerous timely articles in the book include such topics as religious nationalism and violence, abortion rituals in Japan, Islam and women, Tibetan Buddhism in China, and issues related to transnationalism and contemporary media.

* The glossary has been updated and many article introductions have been revised.