Witches & Witchcraft

Witches and witchcraft have captured the human imagination throughout history and across cultures, unleashing responses ranging from reverence to terror.  Judging from the modern-day preoccupation with witches in popular culture and interest in folk-based spiritual traditions, it is tempting to think that humanity has progressed from the attitudes that led to the historical persecution of witches, particularly in pre-Enlightenment Europe and Colonial North American. Yet, there continue to be reports of children, women and men being killed because they are believed to be witches. Papua New Guinea, India, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, Nigeria and Kenya are just some of the countries in which alleged witches have been killed since 2000. Even in nations where practitioners of witchcraft are not put to death, the ‘witch’ label is often used to disparage and undermine powerful women, such as as former US Secretary of State and Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and former British Prime Minister Theresa May.

Read more and submit your abstract here.