Engaging Evil

William C. Olsen is a lecturer for anthropology and African studies at Georgetown University.

Introduction

William C. Olsen and Thomas Csordas



PART I: EVIL AND ANTHROPOLOGY



Chapter 1. From Theodicy to Homodicy: Evil as an Anthropological Problem

Thomas Csordas



Chapter 2. On the Concept of “Evil” in Anthropological Analyses and Political Violence

Byron Good



PART II: EVIL AND SUFFERING



Chapter 3. Speak No Evil: Inversion and Evasion in Indonesia

Andrew Beatty



Chapter 4. Mother Evil in Hell Valley: A Creole Transvalorisation of Evil in Trinidad

Roland Littlewood



Chapter 5. Satan on the Old Kent Road: Articulations of Evil in a Pentecostal Diaspora

Simon Coleman



Chapter 6. The Transformation of Evil in Nepal

David Gellner



Chapter 7. Radical Evil and the Notion of Conscience: A Buddhist Meditation on Christian Soteriology

Gananath Obeyesekere



Chapter 8. Are Spirits Satanic? The Ambiguity of Evil in Niger

Adeline Masqulier



PART III: EVIL AND VIOLENCE



Chapter 9. Engaging Evil and Excess in Palestine / Israel

Julie Peteet



Chapter 10. The Violence of Evil: A Biocultural Approach to Violence, Memory, and Pain

Ventura Perez



Chapter 11. The Intention of Evil: Asram in Asante

William C. Olsen



Chapter 12. Monsters, Sadists, and the Unspectacular Torture Experience

Nerina Weiss



Afterword

David Parkin