‘No "wise" men or women but real doctors!': Stigmatizing discourses on magical healing in Ostrobothnian newspapers
Magical healers and physicians were among those who provided healing in the medical market of pre-modern Swedish-speaking Ostrobothnia. Using newspaper texts published in the region about local occurrences of magical healing as source material, this article examines through discourse analysis how ma...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
[publisher not identified]
2022
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In: |
Approaching religion
Year: 2022, Volume: 12, Issue: 1, Pages: 98-116 |
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Pohjanmaa
/ Rural area
/ Healer
/ Stigmatization
/ Superstition
/ Press
/ History 1800-1900
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RelBib Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy AG Religious life; material religion KBE Northern Europe; Scandinavia ZA Social sciences ZB Sociology |
Further subjects: | B
Discourse Analysis
B vernacular narrative B cunning folk B Stigma B magical healing |
Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
Summary: | Magical healers and physicians were among those who provided healing in the medical market of pre-modern Swedish-speaking Ostrobothnia. Using newspaper texts published in the region about local occurrences of magical healing as source material, this article examines through discourse analysis how magical healing was stigmatized in public discourse at the turn of the twentieth century. Two main discourses that stigmatize magical healing are evident from the data: the religious and enlightenment discourses. These show the power relations involved in the condemnation of magical healing as an example of the rural population’s superstition and naivity. This article offers new information about stigmatizing discourses on healing methods and practices that were considered witchcraft in a period when a community was undergoing cultural changes that affected health beliefs and power relations. |
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ISSN: | 1799-3121 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Approaching religion
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.30664/ar.110933 |