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...
| Publié dans: | Political theology |
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| Auteur principal: | |
| Type de support: | Électronique Article |
| Langue: | Anglais |
| Vérifier la disponibilité: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | En cours de chargement...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Publié: |
Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group
[2020]
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| Dans: |
Political theology
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| Sujets / Chaînes de mots-clés standardisés: | B
Bodin, Jean 1529-1596
/ Souveraineté
/ Sorcellerie
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| RelBib Classification: | AZ Nouveau mouvement religieux KAH Époque moderne ZC Politique en général |
| Sujets non-standardisés: | B
Sovereignty
B Witchcraft B gender and queer theory B political demonology B Jean Bodin |
| Accès en ligne: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Résumé: | 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 |
| Contient: | Enthalten in: Political theology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/1462317X.2020.1759278 |