The efficacy and the sensory experience of magic: Narratives and practices in a rural village, hospital and school in northern Thailand

• IIDA, Junko

  川崎医療福祉大学医療福祉学部

Bibliographic Information

Other Title

• <特集論文>呪術の効果と感覚的経験 --北タイの農村・病院・学校における語りと実践

Abstract

This paper examines narratives and practices in a rural village, hospital and school in northern Thailand to explore the role of sensory experience in the relations between, and influences of, various measures of the efficacy of magic. Sensory experience, including the visualization of 'poison', a cause of illness, makes the efficacy of magic persuasive. As some events demonstrate, however, the uncertain nature of invisible beings also sometimes engenders fear. Discourses from medical professionals and school teachers, who are thought to embody scientific knowledge, suggest they approve of magic in so far as they can explain its significance from a scientific point of view. In contrast to this discourse, however, even when something does not have a scientific explanation, these professionals often still suspect magic and work to counteract. A medical doctor suspected what he found in x-rays to be caused by magic, and school teachers held exorcism rituals and made offerings to spirits after witnessing spirit possession or hearing the sound of steps in a science room when nobody was there. Sensory experience can thus form the basis for acts that contradict verbal 210 discourse. The efficacy of magic is also situated in the social context where various types of mass media appeal to villagers' senses to affect their knowledge and choice of therapies. I argue that socalled modern phenomena including biomedicine, school education and mass media sometimes amplify the sensory experience of magic, thus strengthening people's perceptions of its efficacy.

Journal

• Contact zone

  Contact zone 7 (2014), 192-210, 2015-03-31

  京都大学大学院人間・環境学研究科 文化人類学分野

Keywords

• magic
• efficacy
• sensory experience
• science
• northern Thailand

Details

• CRID: 1050845760760002816
• NII Article ID: 120005733112
• NII Book ID: AA12260795
• ISSN: 21885974
• HANDLE: 2433/209803
• Text Lang: ja
• Article Type: departmental bulletin paper
• Data Source:
  • IRDB
  • CiNii Articles