Follow Us
Wish List         Shopping Cart


Username
Password
Forgot Password?

Browse

Special Offers - Up to 80% off!
Special offers

Fiction
Arabic Literature
Classics
Comics & Graphic Novels
Poetry
Popular Fiction
Romance
Sci-fi & Fantasy
Thrillers, Mysteries & Crime

Nonfiction
Arts & Crafts
Biography
Business
Christianity
Computers
Cookbooks
Current Events
Decorating
Dieting
Educational
Egypt
Flora & Fauna
Health
History
Humor
Islam
Language
Middle East
Philosophy
Politics
Popular Science
Pregnancy & Parenting
Self-help
Social Sciences
Spirituality
Sports
Supernatural
Theater & Music
Travel
True Crime

Children's Books
Board Books
Children's Classics
Comics & Graphic Novels
History & Social Sciences
Hobbies, Arts & Crafts
Learn at Home
Learning to Read
Science & Math
Storybooks
Young Readers

Teen Books
Young Adult Readers

New Arrivals
New Arrivals

  Home     About Us    Contact Us
Advanced Search 
Search:
    New Books Used Books All Books  
The Witch-Hunt; or, The Triumph of Morality
F. G. Bailey
Price: LE 36

   
This title is currently unavailable

ShareThis
Book Summary

In the village of Bisipara in eastern India, an anthropologist is witness to a drama when a young girl takes a fever and quickly dies. The villagers find Susilla's death suspicious and fear that she was possessed. Holding an investigation to find someone to blame, they carry out a hurried inquiry because the stage must be cleared for the annual celebration of the birthday of the god Sri Ramchandro. However, they eventually agree on the identity of a culprit an extract from him a large fine.

F.G. Bailey, who was doing fieldwork in Bisipara in the 1950's, tells what it was like to be living there during this witch-hunt. As his narrative unfolds, we sense the very texture of the villagers lives―their caste relationships, occupations, kinship networks, and religious practices. We become familiar with the sites, sounds, and smells of Bisipara and with many of the village men and women and we learn their ideas of health and disease, their practice of medicine and burial customs, their ways of resolving discord.

The author's commentary opens the curtain on a larger and more complicated scene. It portrays a community in the process of change: from one aspect, the offender is seen as a heroic individual who has broken from the chains of the past, a dissenter standing up for his rights against an entrenched and conservative establishment. From the opposite point of view he is a troublemaker who rejects the moral order on which society and the good life depend, a man who has trespassed outside his proper domain. From Bailey's neutral perspective, the offenders conduct threaten those in power; their determined and successful effort to punish him was an attempt to protect their own privileged position. In doing so, of course, they could say that they were defending the moral order of their community.

Bailey moves easily between field notes and memory as he takes a new look at his first impressions and reflects on what he has learned. His elegant book is a powerful reassessment of anthropology's most enduring themes and debates which will imprint on the reader's mind a vivid image of a place and its people.

Average customer rating on Amazon: To read reviews go to Amazon.
Book Details
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0801482100
ISBN-13: 9780801482106
Genre: Social Sciences
Condition: As New

Buying Policy    |   Shipping Policy    |   FAQ
Please keep in mind that some of the content that we make available to you through this application comes from Amazon Web Services. All such content is provided to you "as is." This content and your use of it are subject to change and/or removal at any time.

     Address: 71 Road 9, Maadi, Cairo, Egypt
Tel: 02-2378-1006
Email: bookspot@bookspotonline.com
All copyrights reserved The BookSpot 2006.
Site designed and developed by Code-Corner.