Witches, Witch-Hunting, and Women Paperback – October 1, 2018

Very interesting to learn more about the rise of witch hunting in conjunction with European enclosure laws that took away value of women’s work. Also interesting to leaen about the rise of witchhunting in parts of Asia and Africa in recent decades. Highly recommend!The book is broken into essays, academic-style articles that are still easy and approachable to read.

If you are looking at global events with increasing alarm, witnessing the collapse of civility in society with dispair, this book offers well researched insights into the seemingly chaotic violence. It exposes underlying economic forces that distort individuals, perpetrators, as they choose violence to avoid their own financial ruin, starvation or death. And suggests a couple actions a reader might take.

I admittedly bought this book, because the authors Caliban and the witch wasn’t available electronically. This is a popular version and therefore also simplified in its argument. Despite that I believe the book unnecessarily simplifies what is and was at stake in the Middle Ages and today.Since the author starts with the Danish “midsummer Visen”. I have to point out that there are important common misunderstandings in the presentation and when it is read from an english language perspective. In Drachmann’s lyrics Hekse and trolde refers directly to the Nordic Norse mythology and the opposition between jætter (the creatures that don’t want anything good for the human) and the Aser (the protectors of the humans). Yet even though jætter and aser disagrees they also intermarry (eg frey). Trolde and hekse are a reference to jætter - trolde is primarily gendered male, hekse are primarily female. Drachmann’s Song it is those not per see an issue of burning human women - it in fact became an issue of primarily women - who apparently have metamorphosed in to jætter!What the author is right about is that the inquisition, the witch hunt in practice becomes a direct assault on the common, trade, money and in particular women. Scandinavia is here interesting, because the practice of Christianity arrives late and is done in a foreign language not understandable for the majority of people. The Norse believes - which have strong similarities all over the Germanic influenced areas - have gods and social practices that directly oppose the Christian church. The practice of medicine is both protected by a female goddess (Eir) and practiced by women, Freya is the goddess of sex, fertility etc. Var is the goddess of contracts and oaths in particular in relation to making marriage oaths! Frigg the protector of marriage. Add to this that up until after the reformation daily trade was done in a debt system devoid of money and practiced by women. I think there are reasons to believe that Germanic women had a significant place as did their goddess in the daily life of the Germanic and Norse populations. Despite becoming increasingly Christian these practice seems to have been very sticky and most importantly keeping the monasteries and the church influence at bay.These leads to my main objection - the suppression of women is a fight about ontologies and power. The Catholic Church ontologies places the clergy in center of all women’s practices, and the pagan ontology is directly against it. You find further evidence of this in the Danish Jyske lov (codified in 1241). This law places the task of overseeing judgement with the king and the chiefs and ensure “rights and save those who have been unjustly forced, in particular the widows, defenseless children, pilgrims, foreigners and the poor”. The law explicit say the law most be “bearable”, in accordance with “local customs”, it most be understandable, and nobody will have special rights! At the same time the church is relegated to the area inside the church and monasteries. This law is not replaced before 1683.Those witch burning and suppression of women - is about the clergies position and their ontology - not capitalism a concept not known! It is about the import of a middle eastern Judea-Christian-Islamic worldview that in steps places the clergy at the center. A clergy, that in the beginning is against merchants, interest rates and aligned with the aristocrats. That changes with the reformation.If we read authors final chapter on especially Africa, we find a new evangelical/Lutheran alliance against both women’s place in society, ontologies of life, reproduction, and self interest - which deliberately destroys the common, customs (African women also are historical the main traders in everyday goods see Guyer 2004). In the African case we find a modern “neoliberal capitalism” alliance with an ontology of women which is taken out of the Judea-Christian-Islamic ontology. Just as we today in US see a republican neoliberal alliance with the evangelicals, which are Individualizing people and take control of in particular women’s bodies.Despite my objections, it is still a good and fast read.

This book summarizes her monograph on witches and adds some new essays on contemporary witches. I recommend it. Her writing in this one is more accesible.

Federici has done it again. This is an excellent commentary on the failures of global feminism, which fought and won some battles, while neglecting issues still placing rural and poor women.

Love Caliban and The Witch but it’s very dense- this is a great entry version! We read it in one sitting!

Sparked my fire and I’m confident it’s one of my favorite books I’ve read in a very long time. I will buy for others to read!

Of the way women have been hunted and abused, of the way they've been treated. This treatment is nice, and might be good for a class. It doesn't go deep enough as do other theoretical accounts, into the causes. But it is a good introduction to the issues of economy and nature that are important in these debates.

Hasta el momento lo estoy disfrutando mucho, valió la pena en versión Kindle

Excellent, digestible read. A nice follow up to Caliban and the Witch. Highly recommended.

Read this book. Federici will shed light for you on all kinds of things you never understood before--or things you had a foggy idea about but could not articulate. Feminism of the highest order here.