The Witch (in Theory)

Catalog description

2024 marked the twentieth anniversary of Silvia Federici's Caliban and the Witch (2004), a book that argued, among other things, that the witch-hunts of early modern Europe ought to be understood in relationship to the transition from feudalism to capitalism. This semester, we will follow Federici's cue to ask what the witch has to do with theories of history, language, and knowledge. Just what do the infamous witch-hunts of renaissance Europe have to do with the emergence of capitalism and the constitution of "secular modernity"? How do witches, witchcraft, and witch-hunts represent a challenge for explanation or interpretation, and what do witches have to do with the production and theorization of knowledge, with accounts of intimacy and individuation? How might explanations of witchcraft amount to theories of linguistic efficacy or contend with the limits of language itself? Our approach will be selective rather than exhaustive: we will study early modern works alongside political philosophical and feminist recuperations of the witch, and we will likewise examine historical, anthropological, and sociological treatments of the witch in relationship to social explanation. Along the way, we will read comparatively on witchcraft, sorcery, and magic.