Nepriateľ zvnútra a jeho povesť: skúmanie bosoráctva a klebiet v antropológii
Enemy within and Reputation: Investigation of Witchkraft and Gossip in Anthropology

Summary/Abstract: The paper is dedicated to the anthropological investigation of witchcraft and gossip. These two phenomena are interconnected and have been examined by scholars since the early period of anthropological research. In social sciences witchcraft has been investigated in different disciplines – folkloristics, history and anthropology. Historical and anthropological approaches have often overlapped and manifested the same key problems. Most anthropological and historical works has demonstrated the relations between the occurrence of misfortunes in human life and alleged personal animosities through beliefs in witchcraft, and the setting of those animosities in particular social contexts. Both historicists and anthropologists emphasized the close connection between witchcraft and gossip that served as a main channel of transmission of suspicions concerning alleged witches. Anthropological analysis of gossip, on the other side, oscillated between functionalistic and psychological explanation. Despite the difference between theoretical approaches, anthropological research has shown the same characteristics of gossip in different cultural settings: I. It reinforces norms; 2. It is transmitted between members of one group; 3. It centres around people with whom a close social relationship exists; 4. To be the butt of gossip is an indication of social importance; 5. Gossip is utilised to forward personal interests. Reputation appeared as a key aspect in gossip as well as in witchcraft suspicions. From evolutionary point of view, gossip as a manipulation with reputation was a crucial factor in humans’ evolution: it presented information that had implications for individuals’ fitness-relevant social strategies in the environment of evolutionary adaptedness. Evolutionary approach therefore takes into account psychological as well as social factors. It is consistent with ethnographical findings and offers their explanation in terms of human development.

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