Are Witchcraft Beliefs Irrational?

The practise of witchcraft is of great interest to anthropologists, because it is a concept that pervades many societies. The most influential study is Evan's Pritchard's Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande and ever since this work was published, anthropologists have debated about definitions of witchcraft, reasons why it exists in so many societies, and whether it should be regarded as rational or irrational. Historians often concentrated on the absurdity of witchcraft and attempted to analyse how these irrational beliefs could have persisted for so long in the West. However, a…