The Anti-Witch

The anti-witch—first published in 2009 under the title Desorceler—is Jeanne Favret-Saada’s third and concluding monograph on witchcraft in the Bocage (West France). This first English edition (translated by anthropologist Matthew Carey) presents a synthesis of ethnographic theory and psychoanalytic revelation, wherein the line between researcher and researched is blurred if not erased. At once classic and state-of-the-art,The anti-witch develops the contours of an anthropology of therapy, while methodologically and epistemologically engaging what it means to be caught in the logic of witchcraft. Through an intimate and provocative sharing of the ethnographic voice with one Mme. Flora—a “dewitcher” and one of Favret-Saada’s interlocutors for two years—The anti-witchdelivers a critical challenge to common anthropologial chestnuts like ‘affect’ and participant observation. Of interest to practioners of psychoanalysis and anthropologists who work on themes of magic and witchcraft, trauma and therapy, religion and belief, this new edition—with a foreword by anthropologist Veena Das—is also certain to bring a whole new generation of scholars into conversation with the work of one of France’s most brilliant anthropologists.

1st Edition Publication Data (French Original): 2009. Desorceler. Paris: Editions de L’Olivier. ISBN: 978-2879296395

Jeanne Favret-Saada is a French anthropologist and the author of many books, includingDeadly Words: Witchcraft in the Bocage. Matthew Carey is assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Copenhagen.