Witchcraft, Statecraft, Mancraft: On the Demonological Foundations of Sovereignty

Questions of sovereignty remain central to political theology, yet the role played by demonology in sovereignty’s construction has yet to be closely examined. This article addresses this omission by exploring the relation between the phantasmatic figures of the “sovereign” and the “witch” in the wor...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Political theology
Main Author: O’Donnell, S. Jonathon (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group [2020]
In: Political theology
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Bodin, Jean 1529-1596 / Sovereignty / Witchcraft
RelBib Classification:AZ New religious movements
KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history
ZC Politics in general
Further subjects:B Sovereignty
B Witchcraft
B gender and queer theory
B political demonology
B Jean Bodin
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
Volltext (doi)
Description
Summary:Questions of sovereignty remain central to political theology, yet the role played by demonology in sovereignty’s construction has yet to be closely examined. This article addresses this omission by exploring the relation between the phantasmatic figures of the “sovereign” and the “witch” in the work of Jean Bodin (1530-96). Early modern concepts of “witchcraft” and its prosecution have a constitutive relation to (theo)political sovereignty, modern gender relations, and the birth of the nation-state. Reading Bodin’s work on witchcraft alongside those on sovereignty, tolerance, and the household, I argue that the demonological witch forms a self-consolidating other at the foundation of modern constructions of sovereignty, tolerance, and the (cishetero)normative family - an excess or absence that reinforces and destabilizes gendered, sexual, political, juridical, and religious hierarchies that continue to influence the present. In doing so, I demonstrate that sovereignty rests on a demonological foundation.
ISSN:1743-1719
Contains:Enthalten in: Political theology
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/1462317X.2020.1759278