PÅ GENBESØG I MAGISKE VERDENER: Et essay

Abstract

In classical anthropological literature, magic has been dealt with as technologies

that are related to uncertainty and control. The present essay sets out from these

themes, but argues that a theory of magic, as well, has to look at the triangle

between matter or substance, form and holistic images, and techniques and

actions. The incentive to discuss magic in the light of newer anthropological

theory of materiality derives from a visit to the exhibition at the Tropenmuseum

in Amsterdam: Vodou – a way of life. On the basis of impressions from this

exhibition, particularly the encounter with the figures of the bizango spirits, the

article suggests that magic has to do with materiality in ways that can be further

illuminated by a closer attention to fetish and to sacrifice. The elaboration of

materiality into different forms is salient in both of these phenomena. Magic,

then, has to do with the shaping of matter, whether in form of packages where

the substance of content may be of significance, or in the form of destruction.

Keywords: materiality, structuring, technique, fetich, sacrifice, voodoo.