The Power of Knowledge
Abstract MAGIC, witchcraft, and healing constitute a field of indigenous explanations of individual success or misfortune. It is worth remembering, therefore, that in the social experience of the Icelanders, death and disaster were recurrent phenomena. Demographic crisis, economic stagnation and dec...
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| Format: | Book Part |
| Language: | unknown |
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Oxford University PressOxford
1990
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| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198277286.003.0008 https://academic.oup.com/book/chapter-pdf/52477522/isbn-9780198277286-book-part-8.pdf |
| Summary: | Abstract MAGIC, witchcraft, and healing constitute a field of indigenous explanations of individual success or misfortune. It is worth remembering, therefore, that in the social experience of the Icelanders, death and disaster were recurrent phenomena. Demographic crisis, economic stagnation and decline, worsening climate, and unfavourable trade regulations, all contributed to the Icelandic view of the human condition. From 1400 to 1800 catastrophe always lurked in the background, in Iceland as elsewhere in Europe. Whenever disaster struck explanations were called for, and some were found within the field of popular belief. |
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