In regards to this entire blog, I want to address my own biggest issues. I feel this will give some insight of some kind. My difficulty with researching about Azande magic was suspending my own cultural belief. Maybe that’s not what I was supposed to do, but in order to practice cultural relativism (assuming that other cultural practices have a logic to them and make sense in their own cultural context), I felt I had to suspend my disbelief in magic and make sense of just how someone can believe in magic when all scientific evidence pointed to the contrary.
This was my struggle: I was stuck in my own culture’s rut.
I found it difficult not to analyze and make everything have a rational explanation! (Rational in my own culture) I thought about the practical purposes of consulting oracles (solving disputes in the community), but I couldn’t seem to see how people believe it’s magic and not random selection when in the Azande culture, the oracles and such cannot be proven wrong.
I know that’s the point of this blog, to engage in an anthropological study (though not field based) and find the logic in a practice that makes no sense to you. It was just very hard to do so when my own culture has entrenched the idea that magic is a fairy tale for people who don’t know anything about science.
Though in crude terms, that is what I struggled with in my cultural encounter (as book and article based as it was). The idea of magic and bewitching is just so far out of what I know. However, I did try to hold back my own belief in all things scientifically proven and tried to look into other possibilities. I still maintain that witchcraft is a good explanation for coincidence and I do believe it makes sense to the Azande. However, I do not think I’ll be a believer any time soon. I just haven’t grown up with it like the Azande have.
Instead of suspending my own disbelief, I just tried to make sense of it by itself. I compared it to my own culture and personal beliefs, but I tried not to state which I thought was right.
Dear Heather,
ReplyDeleteI did not even realize that witchcraft and the belief in magic still existed in the world today until I came across your blog. I, just like you, thought it only existed in fiction. The only occurrence of witchcraft I have ever heard of (before reading your blog) in American culture is the Salem witchcraft trials, and that ultimately faded away because people realized it wasn’t real.
I like how you try to suspend your disbelief about the topic because that is a large part of a cross-cultural encounter, even though it can be extremely difficult. Despite your disbelief, I think you have researched your topic thoroughly and have given an unbiased insight into the Azande’s belief system of witchcraft. I also like the way you relate your entries to what we have learned throughout the course, such as the connections to kinship and space/place. This not only shows your understanding of the culture that you are studying, but also shows your ability to relate it back to the course material. Now that I have read a few of your entries, I can too understand why this cultural practice makes sense to the Azande culture even though I don’t personally believe in magic and witchcraft.
I just have one suggestion for you. Maybe in your final entry about your whole experiences for the blog assignment you could talk some more about what you learned from your cross-cultural encounter and reflect on how that worked to change your opinions about witchcraft.
I think overall that you have done a job well done on your blog.
Sincerely,
Chris DeMolles
Anthropology Classmate
I have really enjoyed reading your blog! Magic is a subject that has always fascinated me, but I have never fully believed in it. I completely understand your struggle with putting the science part of your mind to rest to try and think about Azande magic from their view point. I think that you did a very good job with this.
ReplyDeleteReading your blog, I realized how many forms of magic that there are in the world. When you mentioned that it could be a way for people to explain coincidences, it made perfect sense. It is very hard to practice cultural relativism because it is hard to forget our own cultural views. It’s difficult to throw them on the back burner in order to be able to look at another culture from that perspective. I feel like you have successfully managed to convey your understanding of the Azande culture. You were able to look past your own cultural background to immerse yourself in another (well, through research at least). You did a very good job with this and I could personally relate to you.
You explained your choice of cultural engagement very clearly. One of the reasons I chose to read your blog is because your subject is very fascinating. It is something that I have always had a curiosity about in the back of my mind. Why would there be so many different kinds of magic out there in the world? I found it very interesting to learn about the Azande. Another reason why I enjoyed your blog so much is that I could understand everything that you were discussing. Your writing is very organized and easy to follow. I could tell that you planned out what you were going to write about. On a side note, you were very creative with your post titles. I like them a lot.
Another thing that I noticed was that you linked the material about kinship relations back to class. I really like how you incorporated this into your blog. I feel that it worked very well. It’s very interesting to me how so many different cultures view different things.
I like your approach to this blog. I think that you set it up very well. You talked about many important issues related to the Azande and their magical beliefs. I think that you have done a great job with this assignment.
I really enjoyed your blog! It was interesting to me to read about people who actually believe in magic, especially since American culture tends to dismiss magic as only in fairy tales or something from a cult. I liked how in My Neighbor is a Witch you displayed how the Aande people see something as witchcraft, while Americans would see it as science. Comparing the different worldviews helped me understand why and how the Azande people view witchcraft within their society.
ReplyDeleteThis really connected back to the section we did on religion, and how religions are used to explain the unexplainable. Perhaps if you made that connection a bit stronger and drawing upon the vocabulary could strengthen this section even more. It seems like the Azandra use witchcraft as their religion to explain any wrongdoings, illnesses, and death. Your post on death did a good job outlining the specific rituals the Azande people go through following the death of a loved one.
I completely connected to your last post about having difficulty understanding the Azande culture. Whenever I think of magic I tend to relate it to Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, since that’s the experiences I’ve had with magic in my life. It was incredibly informative to read about this kind of magic and how it exists within the real world. Overall your blog was very informative and interesting!