Naslov
Between Romanticization and De-historization of History: The Unveiling of Gender in Witchcraft Trials

Autori
Polgar, Nataša

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Poglavlja u knjigama, znanstveni

Knjiga
Disrupting Historicity, Reclaiming the Future

Urednik/ci
Carotenuto, Silvana ; Gabrielli, Francesca Maria ; Jambrešić Kirin, Renata

Izdavač
UniorPress

Grad
Napulj

Godina
2019

Raspon stranica
97-112

ISBN
978-953-8089-29-9

Ključne riječi
witches, Croatia, historiography, feminist criticism, psychoanalysis

Sažetak
The persecution of witches in most of Europe during the early modern period is a segment of history that is still, partly, controversial part of historiography and feminist criticism, but also of political and ideological disputes. However, the issue of sex and gender in the construction of a witch has long been its most visible and at the same time the most invisible part in historiography. Up until the late 20th century it was considered quite marginal and often counterproductive for the "in depth" studies of the phenomenon, while gender as an analytical category simply did not exist. Unfortunately, historians' antagonism towards feminist shift was not entirely unjustifiable: during the 1970s and 1980s with branching and strengthening of women's rights movement, witch becomes almost programmatic character - heroine of the past, a wise, independent woman, a midwife and a healer persecuted by the patriarchal system as its biggest threat. The book by Barbara Ehrenreich and Deidre English from 1973, Witches, Midwives and Nurses and Gyn / Ecology by Mary Daly from 1978 paved the way for the creation of these decades-long perpetuating myths about women in the early modern period, especially those of the witches, which resonate to this day, ranging from scientific discourse to popular culture. The article gives an overview of the ideological and political use of the witch as a character in twentieth-century historiography and feminist studies of mass witch-hunt. In similar way, the article points to the creation of new "myths", which were attempted to deconstruct and bypass through psychoanalytic interpretations of the trial records in the Zagreb case. Additionally, the text briefly gives my own research of the witch trials in Croatia during the late 17th and 18th centuries on the basis of the trial records and other historical documents, in which it was necessary to include feminist categorical apparatus to determine a specific context of the demonizing of femininity, which also required, due to the specificity of the materials, the inclusion of psychoanalytic interpretation as well as "historicizing" psychoanalytic procedures. By reading of the records and testimonies as personal narratives it was meant to expand the corpus (of the recorded) texts that are in the focus of folkloristic research on beliefs and legends.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Povijest, Etnologija i antropologija, Interdisciplinarne humanističke znanosti, Rodni studiji

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