Spellbound: Woman and Witchcraft in America

by Elizabeth Reis (Editor)

Overview

Spellbound: Women and Witchcraft in America is a collection of twelve articles that explore crucial events in the history of witch-hunting and its demonization of women in American and American women's own use of witchcraft as a source of identity and strength, as well as the complicated relationship between the two. Beginning with the accused 'witches' of colonial America, Spellbound extends its focus through the nineteenth century to explore women's involvement with alternative spiritualities, and culminates with examinations of the contemporary feminist neopagan and Goddess movements.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781461642565
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	06/01/1998
Series:	The Worlds of Women Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	276
File size:	1000 KB

About the Author

Elizabeth Reis teaches history and women's studies at the University of Oregon. She is the author of Damned Women: Sinners and Witches in Puritan New England (1997).

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 The Economic Basis of Witchcraft
Chapter 2 Female Speech and Other Demons: Witchcraft and Wordcraft in Early New England
Chapter 3 Gender and the Meanings of Confession in Early New England
Chapter 4 Dark Eve
Chapter 5 "The Devil Will Roar in Me Anon": The Possession of Martha Roberson, Boston, 1741
Chapter 6 Seneca Possessed: Colonialism, Witchcraft, and Gender in the Time of Handsome Lake
Chapter 7 Sojourner Truth's Religion in Her Moment of Pentecostalism and Witchcraft
Chapter 8 "Hoodoo? God Do": African American Women and Contested Spirituality in the Spiritual Churches of New Orleans
Chapter 9 Red Lilac of the Cayugas: Traditional Indian Laws and Culture Conflict in a Witchcraft Trial in Buffalo, New York, 1930
Chapter 10 Witchcraft as Goddess Religion
Chapter 11 Affinities and Appropriations in Feminist Spirituality
Chapter 12 In Whose Image? Misogynist Trends in the Construction of Goddess and Woman

What People are Saying About This

R. Marie Griffith

The first serious attempt to trace the history of the witch and analyze the politics of witchcraft.

Editorial Reviews

Informative and engaging.

Midwest Book Review

From the very beginning of American history, people have used the term 'witch' to identify particular groups in society, usually women, sometimes in fun, but more often with intent to do harm. Americans have wielded it to isolate, denigrate, demonize, and ultimately destroy those whose ideas and/or actions threaten, or are perceived to threaten, conventional wisdom. Spellbound helps us better understand this phenomenon. Essays by leading scholars show how changes in our definition of 'witch' reflect changes in our perception of women's roles in American society. Spellbound is an excellent addition to the literature on the role of gender in American history.

Bryan F. Le Beau

Spellbound is the first serious attempt to trace the history of the witch and analyze the politics of witchcraft at diverse cultural moments in American history. Experts present compelling arguments for the gendered, racialized nature of witch persecutions and finely illuminate contemporary appropriations of magic and witchcraft. This admirable volume is a significant contribution not only to the comparative study of witchcraft but to the historians, ethnographers, and general readers alike.

R. Marie Griffith

This collection of essays is a thorough and enlightening presentation of what has been and what continues to be the state of the powerful woman in American society.

Women and Criminal Justice

This is an important collection for scholars interested in women's, religious, and Native American history, as well as American history in general.

Journal of Women's History

Spellbound is the first serious attempt to trace the history of the witch and analyze the politics of witchcraft at diverse cultural moments in American history. Experts present compelling arguments for the gendered, racialized nature of witch persecutions and finely illuminate contemporary appropriations of magic and witchcraft. This admirable volume is a significant contribution not only to the comparative study of witchcraft but to the historians, ethnographers, and general readers alike.--R. Marie Griffith, author of God's Daughters: Evangelical Women and the Power of Submission

From the very beginning of American history, people have used the term 'witch' to identify particular groups in society, usually women, sometimes in fun, but more often with intent to do harm. Americans have wielded it to isolate, denigrate, demonize, and ultimately destroy those whose ideas and/or actions threaten, or are perceived to threaten, conventional wisdom. Spellbound helps us better understand this phenomenon. Essays by leading scholars show how changes in our definition of 'witch' reflect changes in our perception of women's roles in American society. Spellbound is an excellent addition to the literature on the role of gender in American history.--Bryan F. Le Beau, Creighton University, author of The Story of the Salem Witch Trials

This collection of essays is a thorough and enlightening presentation of what has been and what continues to be the state of the powerful woman in American society.--Women and Criminal Justice

From the Publisher