Concept information
Preferred term
witch doctor
Definition
- Witch doctor, also sometimes witchman, is an unfortunate term created by English speakers during colonial times in Africa to refer originally to healers using supernatural means, but it became a generic term for any sort of traditional healer anywhere, regardless of what methods were employed or what affliction was treated. It reflects a time when the label witchcraft was applied pejoratively to any supernatural practice or belief system that appeared radically different from the observer's custom, in spite of efforts by anthropologists to specify meanings. [Source: Encyclopedia of Anthropology; Witch Doctor]
Broader concept
Belongs to group
URI
https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/witch_doctor
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