Powers of Good and Evil Social Transformation and Popular Belief [Paperback]

A key theme in the anthropology of beliefs is the relationship between socio-economic change and changes in the belief system. It has been widely argued that rapid economic change, particularly the introduction of capitalism, leads to an increase in beliefs in, and representations of, evil and the devil. These beliefs, it is argued, constitute forms of resistance to, or rejection of, modernity. This volume builds on these arguments, suggesting that rather than an indigenous resistance to capitalism, such representations signal a profound moral ambivalence towards the socio-economic process inherent in capitalist economy. Using a range of examples, from Surinamese zombies to American horror films, it demonstrates the extent to which evil imagery is linked to a fear of excess, particularly in situations where people find themselves, or perceive themselves, to be peripheral to the centers of political, economic, and cultural power.

Paul Cloughis Lecturer in Anthropology at the University of Malta.

... lively and ethnographically interesting. This makes Powers of Good and Evil an excellent teaching resource. ????Ethnos

List of Illustrations

Introduction
Jon P. Mitchell

Chapter 1.Dangerous Creatures and the Enchantment of Modern Life
Bonno Thoden van VelzenandIneke van Wetering

Chapter 2.Witchcraft and New Forms of Wealth: Regional Variations in South and West Cameroon
Peter Geschiere

Chapter 3.The Devil, Satanism and the Evil Eye in Contemporary Malta
Jon P. Mitchell

Chapter 4.'You Devil, Go Away from Me!' Pentecostalist African Christianity and the Powers of Good and Evil
Birgit Meyer

Chapter 5.Modernity, Crisis, and the Rise of Charismatic Catholicism in Maltese Islands
Nadia Theuma

Chapter 6.Good, Evil and Godhood: Mormon Morality in the Material World