[Anthropgrad] Friday Seminars (11 April)

[Sin Wen Lau]

Anthropology Student Seminar Series, Semester 1, 2008
Milgate Room, AD Hope
11 April 2008, 3 pm

'The Din of Whispers' by Nicholas Herriman

Based on a year's fieldwork in rural Banyuwangi, East Java, Indonesia, 
this presentation examines the nature of sorcery and the reprisals that 
occur amongst neighbours, kin, and acquaintances as a consequence of 
beliefs in its practice. When a dispute between these people is followed 
by illness, sorcery may be suspected. The people who identify and take 
action against the suspected sorcerer are the suspected sorcerer's own 
family members, neighbours and acquaintances. By arguing that black 
magic occurs within, and not between social groups, this presentation 
makes three contributions. Firstly, it adds to the documentation of 
societies in which sorcery or witchcraft within the social group. 
Secondly, in doing this, it challenges other anthropologists' findings 
that sorcery in this part of the world occurs between social groups. 
Thirdly, the distrust, suspicion, and killings that result from these 
sorcery beliefs suggest that, contrary to Sahlins and others, solidarity 
and trust might not be essential amongst kin, neighbours, and other 
organising elements of society.

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Lau Sin Wen
Department of Anthropology
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
The Australian National University
Canberra ACT0200
Australia

Telephone : +61-2-6125-3271
Fax	 : +61-2-6125-4896
Email	 : sinwen.lau at anu.edu.au
Website	 : http://rspas.anu.edu.au/anthropology
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