Keywords
Russian History, Witchcraft, Rituals, Social, Violence, Religion
Abstract
Imperial Russia became home to a unique form of witchcraft from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. Combining its religious history, patterns of imperial expansion and governance, and social hierarchies, witchcraft accusations arose during especially troublesome economic and political times. Differing from eighteenth-century America Witchcraft trials, these trials were not only femicide. Targeting anyone who might subvert established social or cultural norms, these accusations often led to violent expungement, ending with a ritual of communal bonding.
Recommended Citation
Sommer, Katrina (2023) "The Rise of Russian Peasant Witchcraft: A Response to Social Unrest in Imperial Russia," Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal: 4 (1), 139-147. https://works.swarthmore.edu/suhj/vol4/iss1/7
Included in
Cultural History Commons, European History Commons, History of Gender Commons, History of Religion Commons, History of Religions of Eastern Origins Commons, Migration Studies Commons, Political History Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Rural Sociology Commons, Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance Commons, Social History Commons, Sociology of Culture Commons