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Magical Writing in Salasaca: Literacy and Power in Highland Ecuador
Magical Writing in Salasaca Literacy and Power in Highland Ecuador Author:Peter Wogan Explores the interwoven effects of writing, witchcraft, magic, and religion in social and political areas for the Salasacas This is a case study of the interwoven effects of writing, witchcraft, magic, and religion on power such as birth certificates, baptism records, land titles, and tax records are very much a part of the same world in which w... more »itches keep lists of people to kill or save, the Church keeps lists of ancestors to honor, and God Himself keeps books of the living and the dead. The many aspects of this view of the quasi-magical uses of writing not only reinforce the subordination of nonelite groups with respect to the bureaucratic elites who control archival power, but also define the self-identity of the individuals within the nonelite groups. The book will therefore appeal to those interested in anthropology, literacy, power, or Latin America.« less