The Making of a Bewitchment Narrative

Abstract

By analysing the formation of one bewitchment narrative, the paper argues that narratives on bewitchment primarily serve as communicative devices by which one can negotiate his social position in the community, even in cases when overt social conflict is not involved.In case of misfortune the local bewitchment theories give rise to several competing interpretations in the community (a Hungarian village in Romania).The different versions also assign different roles to the bewitched: some put them into the position of the guilty while others show them as wholly innocent victims.By following the interpretational strategies applied during the construction of the bewitchment narrative of a family whose social position was shaken, the paper aims to show how the bewitched managed to reach a version which has put them into a favourable position, and how this narrative was employed to 'save their faces'.

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