Ethnology of European Witchcraft

Students become aquainted with various hypothesis about the origin of witchcraft and its intertwinement with magic. They become familiar with basic European traditional notions about witchcraft and its intertwinement with other belief systems, like shamanism and belief system of supernatural beings. They learn about the history of European witchcraft, especially about the period of witch-craze and transformation of folk notions under the influence of Church demonologists in witches' persecutions. Discussed are the social pattern of accusations; the cognitive concept underlying the accusations; the function of witchcraft in the society; discourses on witchcraft and social uses of bewitchment narratives. Students become aquainted with ethnological and anthropological researches of European village witchcraft in the twentieth century. They also become familiar with contemporary forms of witchcraft outside rural communities (pagan witchcraft, satanism…) and their function in a society nowadays.