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...
| Veröffentlicht in: | Political theology |
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| 1. VerfasserIn: | |
| Medienart: | Elektronisch Aufsatz |
| Sprache: | Englisch |
| Verfügbarkeit prüfen: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Lade...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Veröffentlicht: |
Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group
[2020]
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| In: |
Political theology
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| normierte Schlagwort(-folgen): | B
Bodin, Jean 1529-1596
/ Souveränität
/ Hexerei
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| RelBib Classification: | AZ Neue Religionen KAH Kirchengeschichte 1648-1913; Neuzeit ZC Politik |
| weitere Schlagwörter: | B
Sovereignty
B Witchcraft B gender and queer theory B political demonology B Jean Bodin |
| Online Zugang: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Zusammenfassung: | 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. |
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| ISSN: | 1743-1719 |
| Enthält: | Enthalten in: Political theology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/1462317X.2020.1759278 |