Abstract
Magical healers and physicians were among those who provided healing in the medical market of pre-modern Swedish-speaking Ostrobothnia. Using newspaper texts published in the region about local occurrences of magical healing as source material, this article examines through discourse analysis how magical healing was stigmatized in public discourse at the turn of the twentieth century. Two main discourses that stigmatize magical healing are evident from the data: the religious and enlightenment discourses. These show the power relations involved in the condemnation of magical healing as an example of the rural population’s superstition and naivity. This article offers new information about stigmatizing discourses on healing methods and practices that were considered witchcraft in a period when a community was undergoing cultural changes that affected health beliefs and power relations.
Highlights
In pre-modern rural regions of Finland, healthcare was traditionally provided by vernacular healers using both magical and non-magical methods.1 the Approaching Religion Vol 12, No 1 March 2022 on discourses on magical healing in connection with medicine, rather than magical healing itself
The term ‘magical healing’ refers here to the healing practised by ritual specialists known as ‘cunning folk’, using spells and rituals; these held authority in healing illnesses caused by witchcraft
I chose sixty-one newspaper texts as the main data corpus for newspaper texts that represent the public discourse on magical healing
Summary
Using newspaper texts published in the region about local occurrences of magical healing as source mater ial, this article examines through discourse analysis how magical healing was stigmatized in public discourse at the turn of the twentieth century. Two main discourses that stigmatize magical healing are evident from the data: the religious and enlightenment discourses. These show the power relations involved in the condemnation of magical healing as an example of the rural population’s superstition and naivity. This article offers new information about stigmatizing discourses on healing methods and practices that were considered witchcraft in a period when a community was undergoing cultural changes that affected health beliefs and power relations
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