Engaging Evil

William C. Olsen is the Principal Social Sciences Bibliographer and is adjunct faculty in Anthropology and African Studies at Georgetown University.Thomas Csordas is Professor of Anthropology and Department Chair in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, San Diego.

• IntroductionWilliam C. Olsen and Thomas CsordasPART I: EVIL AND ANTHROPOLOGYChapter 1. From Theodicy to Homodicy: Evil as an Anthropological ProblemThomas CsordasChapter 2. On the Concept of "Evil" in Anthropological Analyses and Political ViolenceByron GoodPART II: EVIL AND SUFFERINGChapter 3. Speak No Evil: Inversion and Evasion in IndonesiaAndrew BeattyChapter 4. Mother Evil in Hell Valley: A Creole Transvalorisation of Evil in TrinidadRoland LittlewoodChapter 5. Satan on the Old Kent Road: Articulations of Evil in a Pentecostal DiasporaSimon ColemanChapter 6. The Transformation of Evil in NepalDavid GellnerChapter 7. Radical Evil and the Notion of Conscience: A Buddhist Meditation on Christian SoteriologyGananath ObeyesekereChapter 8. Are Spirits Satanic? The Ambiguity of Evil in NigerAdeline MasqulierPART III: EVIL AND VIOLENCEChapter 9. Engaging Evil and Excess in Palestine / IsraelJulie PeteetChapter 10. The Violence of Evil: A Biocultural Approach to Violence, Memory, and PainVentura PerezChapter 11. The Intention of Evil: Asram in AsanteWilliam C. OlsenChapter 12. Monsters, Sadists, and the Unspectacular Torture ExperienceNerina WeissAfterwordDavid Parkin

"The various contributions offer a rich and highly variegated overview of how anthropologists have dealt with `evil' and thus give a good idea of the baffling variety hiding behind this notion." Peter Geschiere, University of Amsterdam