“Was I or Wasn’t I Bewitched?” Conversations about Magic in Rural Transylvania

Abstract

For people who are familiar with my work, the topic of this paper is pretty much a surprise. I was surprised myself both by the question in the title, which I have received in my field research in medical anthropology, and an abundance of stories of bewitched people I found when I explored the relation between illness and healing. The question was addressed to me, and I sensed that it was more than a rhetorical question. The argument of the paper starts from the question in the title and what it could possibly mean for my research participants in rural parts of Cluj County. I discuss the case of a bewitched man who believes he had been subject to witchcraft and therefore tells his story in the first person. The article problematizes the local cultural context of the interviewees, especially in relation to their memories and the reasons why they continue to tell stories of witchcraft.

Keywords

• magic
• witchcraft
• conversation
• narrative
• bewitchment
• rural