Witch Hunts

Govind Kelkar, a feminist scholar, has worked at Delhi University; the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok; Centre for Women's Development Studies, New Delhi; the Institute of Ethnology, Kunming, China; and also with UN-WOMEN. She was founding editor of the journal Gender, Technology and Development. Dev Nathan, an economist, is co-editor of the Cambridge University Press series Development Trajectories in Global Value Chains. He has held positions at Bombay University; the Nehru Memorial Museum Library; the Indian Institute of Advanced Study; the Institute of Ethnology, Kunming, China; and the Duke University GVC Center, USA.

• Acknowledgements; 1. Introduction; Part I. Culture: 2. Culture and the epistemology of belief in witchcraft; Part II. Witch Hunts in India: 3. Witch persecutions and resistance in India; 4. Factors in witch hunts; Part III. Patriarchy: 5. The connected history of patriarchy and witch hunts; 6. Creating patriarchy; 7. Witch hunting as women hunting in early modern Europe; Part IV. Capitalist Transformations: 8. Accumulation, dispossession and persecution; 9. Witch hunts in development: policy and practice; Part V. Conclusions: 10. Articulations; 11. Policies for ending witch hunts; References; Glossary; Index.

'It is interesting, important and well grounded in both older and newer approaches to witchcraft. The general argument about witchcraft, gender, patriarchy and structural changes in the economy is also quite persuasive, though I am sure there will be quibbles. From my point of view, the book looks both original and important.' Arjun Appadurai, New York University