Black Magic in Modern Times
Cursed Britain October 7, 2019 DOI: 10.12987/yale/9780300221404.003.0001 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Historical analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that modern black magic is a cosmopolitan drama: from the nineteenth century, accelerating global movement spread magical beliefs and produced new mysticisms, while empires regulated colonial subjects partly through witchcraft. Witchcraft became more international yet stayed rooted in local circumstances, so understanding it requires combining a global orientation with a local focus, for which Britain is proposed as an excellent site. |
Abstract
This chapter shows that the history of black magic in modern times is a cosmopolitan drama. Human movement rapidly accelerated from the nineteenth century. People, goods, technologies, and ideas began crossing the earth at a dizzying rate. Travellers took their magical beliefs abroad and encountered new mysticisms when they got there. Empires regulated their colonial subjects in all sorts of ways, including how they dealt with witches. Witchcraft became more international, though at the same time it remained fundamentally rooted in local circumstances. This means that, to understand modern witchcraft, one must combine a global orientation with a local focus. And an excellent place for that local focus is a large island, lying on the eastern edge of the North Atlantic Ocean: Britain.