CONJURING HOPE

Healing and Magic in Contemporary Russia

Galina Lindquist

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“Whoever wants to learn about life in today’s Russia, where various forms of magic play a central role, should read this book. And of course all those interested in Semiotic or medical anthropology who will gain further insight into the relationships between healer and patient.”  ·  Anthropos

“Lindquist’s book makes two important contributions, the first anthropological, and the second ethnographic…Lindquist clearly brought passion, care, and the highest ethical standards to her role as ethnographer, to the great benefit of her readers. When telling these stories, her writing is always clear, often elegant, and sometimes deeply moving.”  ·  Slavic Review

Notions of magic and healing have been changing over past years and are now understood as reflecting local ideas of power and agency, as well as structures of self, subjectivity and affect. This study focuses on contemporary urban Russia and, through exploring social conditions, conveys the experience of living that makes magic logical. By following people’s own interpretations of the work of magic, the author succeeds in unraveling the logic of local practice and local understanding of affliction, commonly used to diagnose the experiences of illness and misfortune.

Galina Lindquist was born in Russia, and trained as anthropologist in Sweden. She received her degree at the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Stockholm, for the study of urban shamans in Scandinavia. Since then she has done work in medical anthropology and anthropology of religion, with a special focus on folk religious and healing practices. Her other areas of interest are play, ritual, and anthropology of consciousness.

Series: Volume 1, Epistemologies of Healing

Contents

Acknowledgements
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1. Marketing Magic
Chapter 2. Magic as Semiotic Changes: Ontologies, Rituals and Terms of Affliction
Chapter 3. Magic as Management of Emotions
Chapter 4. The Icons of Power: Constructing Charisma from the Means at Hand
Chapter 5. Charisma of the Office: Healing Power and Biomedical Legitimacy
Chapter 6. The Unspeakable Emotions: Spells and Their Use in Working Life
Chapter 7. The Magic of Business and the Fostering of Hope
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index