Description

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A number of cases of serious child abuse have resulted from beliefs that children may be possessed by evil spirits and may then be given the power to bewitch others. Misfortune, failure, illness and even death may be blamed on them. The 'cure', nowadays called deliverance rather than exorcism, is to expel the spirits, sometimes by violent means. This book draws together contributions on aspects of possession and witchcraft from leading academics and expert practitioners in the field. It has been put together following conferences held by Inform, a charity that provides accurate information on new religions as a public service. There is no comparable information publicly available; this book is the first of its kind. Eileen Barker, founder of 'Inform', introduces the subject and Inform's deputy director goes on to detail the requests the charity has answered in recent years on the subject of children, possession and witchcraft. This book offers an invaluable resource for readers, whether academic or practitioner - particularly those in the fields of the safeguarding of children, and their education, health and general welfare.

About the Author

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Professor Jean La Fontaine, Ph.D. Anthropology Cambridge is a Research Fellow of Inform, and Professor Emeritus at the London School of Economics. She has carried out anthropological fieldwork in eastern Uganda, Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo) and in England. She has taught anthropology at Birkbeck College London and the London School of Economics. Her most recent book, Speak of the Devil, concerned allegations of devil worship in England. She is currently studying accusations of witchcraft against children in London.