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Book: Evil

Chapter: Classification and Magical Thinking

DOI: 10.1558/equinox.32884

Blurb:

Provides an overview of the power of classification and the relation of classification to dangers and aversions; key thinkers include Mary Douglas, Jonathan Z. Smith, and Bruce Lincoln; ethnographic examples will be drawn from Cantonese funerals, Maori cosmology, and Protestant purity debates (U.S.). This chapter will also include a discussion of “magical thinking” as the backbone of classificatory thinking.

Chapter Contributors

  • Kenneth MacKendrick ([email protected] - kmackendrick1) 'Department of Religion University of Manitoba'