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Books > Religion & Spirituality > Alternative belief systems > Occult studies > Witchcraft
A landmark contribution to women's history that sheds new light on
the Salem witch trials and one of its most crucial participants,
Tituba of The Crucible In this important book, Elaine Breslaw
claims to have rediscovered Tituba, the elusive, mysterious, and
often mythologized Indian woman accused of witchcraft in Salem in
1692 and immortalized in Arthur Miller's The Crucible.
Reconstructing the life of the slave woman at the center of the
notorious Salem witch trials, the book follows Tituba from her
likely origins in South America to Barbados, forcefully dispelling
the commonly-held belief that Tituba was African. The uniquely
multicultural nature of life on a seventeenth-century Barbadan
sugar plantation—defined by a mixture of English, American
Indian, and African ways and folklore—indelibly shaped the young
Tituba's world and the mental images she brought with her to
Massachusetts. Breslaw divides Tituba’s story into two parts. The
first focuses on Tituba's roots in Barbados, the second on her life
in the New World. The author emphasizes the inextricably linked
worlds of the Caribbean and the North American colonies,
illustrating how the Puritan worldview was influenced by its
perception of possessed Indians. Breslaw argues that Tituba’s
confession to practicing witchcraft clearly reveals her savvy and
determined efforts to protect herself by actively manipulating
Puritan fears. This confession, perceived as evidence of a
diabolical conspiracy, was the central agent in the cataclysmic
series of events that saw 19 people executed and over 150
imprisoned, including a young girl of 5. A landmark contribution to
women's history and early American history, Tituba, Reluctant Witch
of Salem sheds new light on one of the most painful episodes in
American history, through the eyes of its most crucial participant.
Witch, Slut, Feminist: these contested identities are informing
millennial women as they counter a tortuous history of misogyny
with empowerment. This innovative primer highlights sexual
liberation as it traces the lineage of "witch feminism" through
art, film, music, fashion, literature, technology, religion, pop
culture, and politics. Juxtaposing scholarly research on the
demonization of women and female sexuality that has continued since
the witch hunts of the early modern era with pop occulture analyses
and interviews with activists, artists, scholars, and practitioners
of witchcraft, this book addresses and illuminates contemporary
conversations about reproductive rights, sexual pleasure, queer
identity, pornography, sex work, and more. Author Kristen J. Sollee
elucidates the ways in which women have been persecuted for their
perceived connection with witchcraft, and how they have fought
back, harnessing the legacy of the witch for revolutionary means.
Kristen J. Sollee is an instructor at The New School and founding
editrix of Slutist, an award-winning sex positive feminist website.
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