Witchcraft as Political Resistance: Magical Responses to the 2016 Presidential Election in the United States
The use of political magic is one of the remarkable and unexpected cultural features to emerge from the 2016 presidential election in the United States. Using a combination of digital and face-to-face ethnography, this article explores the emergence of a movement dedicated to resisting the Donald Tr...
| Published in: | Nova religio |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
University of Californiarnia Press
[2020]
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| In: |
Nova religio
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Presidents
/ Presidential election
/ Trump, Donald 1946-
/ Resistance
/ The Left
/ Occultism
/ Magic
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| RelBib Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy AG Religious life; material religion AZ New religious movements KBQ North America |
| Further subjects: | B
Resistance
B Witchcraft B magical resistance B Magic B Paganism B Ritual B Witches B crisis of presence B Pagans B magical practitioners |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | The use of political magic is one of the remarkable and unexpected cultural features to emerge from the 2016 presidential election in the United States. Using a combination of digital and face-to-face ethnography, this article explores the emergence of a movement dedicated to resisting the Donald Trump administration through witchcraft and magic. Applying the lens of Italian ethnologist Ernesto de Martino, it argues that the 2016 election created a "crisis of presence" for many left-leaning Americans who experienced it as a failure of agency. Their turn to magic was in response to feelings of anxiety and helplessness. Drawing from the approach of anthropologist James C. Scott, it analyzes magic as an art of resistance, an aesthetic, performative, as well as political response. Finally, it examines the fissures within the magical resistance as clashes in ethics, aesthetics, and beliefs associated with magic came to the fore, effectively splintering the magic resistance movement and rendering it less effective. |
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| ISSN: | 1541-8480 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Nova religio
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1525/nr.2020.23.4.43 |