The Feast of the Sorcerer : Practices of Consciousness and Power - Bruce Kapferer

The Feast of the Sorcerer

Practices of Consciousness and Power

By: Bruce Kapferer

Paperback | 15 October 1997 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Paperback


$132.75

or 4 interest-free payments of $33.19 with

 or 

Aims to ship in 15 to 25 business days

Sorcery has long been associated with the "dark side" of human development. Along with magic and witchcraft, it is assumed to be irrational and antithetical to modern thought. But in "The Feast of the Sorcerer," Bruce Kapferer argues that sorcery practices reveal critical insights into how consciousness is formed and how human beings constitute their social and political realities.
Kapferer focuses on sorcery among Sinhalese Buddhists in Sri Lanka to explore how the art of sorcery is in fact deeply connected to social practices and lived experiences such as birth, death, sickness, and war. He describes in great detail the central ritual of exorcism, a study which opens up new avenues of thought that challenge anthropological approaches to such topics as the psychological forces of emotion and the dynamics of power. Overcoming both "orientalist" bias and postmodern permissiveness, Kapferer compellingly reframes sorcery as a pragmatic, conscious practice which, through its dynamic of destruction and creation, makes it possible for humans to reconstruct repeatedly their relation to the world.

More in Archaeology

Ancestors : A prehistory of Britain in seven burials - Alice Roberts
Between Two Rivers : 'A WONDERFUL READ' -- TOM HOLLAND - Moudhy Al-Rashid
The Dawn of Everything : A New History of Humanity - David Graeber
Colonialism : A Moral Reckoning - Nigel Biggar

RRP $34.99

$31.75

Archaeology of Ancient Australia - Peter Hiscock

RRP $83.99

$73.75

12%
OFF
The Routledge Handbook of Emotions in the Ancient Near East - Karen  Sonik
Crypt : Life, Death and Disease in the Middle Ages and Beyond - Alice Roberts
The Children of Ash and Elm : A History of the Vikings - Neil Price
Istanbul : A Tale of Three Cities - Bettany Hughes

RRP $29.99

$27.90

Buried : An alternative history of the first millennium in Britain - Alice Roberts
Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World : An Identification Guide - Paul Stamets