Prof. Zoe Crossland
Department of Anthropology, Columbia University

Bounded bodies and broken selves:

Witch bottles and the emergence of the modern body in 17th century England

Friday May 8th, 4.10pm on Zoom – details below

Witch bottles are curious devices packed with hair, nails and urine that are sometimes found in the walls and thresholds of old houses in England. They were used to protect and cure those who were beset by illness. Usually studied by archaeologists in terms of beliefs and practices around protective magic they are also extraordinarily expressive of attitudes to the body, to gender and illness at this time period. Here I ask how these apotropaic devices might act as a source of evidence for changes in beliefs about the body and its relations in Renaissance and Early Modern England. The practical logic through which this material magic was composed offers a different perspective on a time and a place when radical changes were taking place in how bodies and people were understood.

To participate please email archaeology@columbia.edu with your full name, phone number and email address.

We will send you the Zoom meeting ID and password 30 minutes before the presentation. If you already have login details from last week’s salon, they may also be used for this one.