Cover Image
QR Code

Listening to Women: Empathy as a Method for the Study of the Witch-Trial Archives.

A feminist approach to early modern witchcraft should start from empathy. I argue that scholars must understand the people involved in witch trials, both the accused and the accusers, as individuals with their own motivations and goals. As revealed in gender based studies of witchcraft, the constrai...

Full description

Published in:Magic, Ritual & Witchcraft Vol. 20; no. 2; pp. 182 - 192
Main Author: Hill, Abigail
Format: Article
Published: University of Pennsylvania Press Fall2025
Subjects:
Women
Empathy
Witchcraft
Feminism
Witches
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
fields @attributes:
  recordID: 1
pdfLink:
plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=190577497&site=ehost-live
header:
  @attributes:
    shortDbName: hlh
    uiTerm: 190577497
    longDbName: Humanities International Complete
    uiTag: AN
  controlInfo:
    bkinfo:
    jinfo:
      jid:
        15568547
        1VOZ
      jtl: Magic, Ritual & Witchcraft
      issn: 15568547
      maglogo: N
    pubinfo:
      dt: Fall2025
      vid: 20
      iid: 2
      pid: 4636
      pub: University of Pennsylvania Press
    artinfo:
      ui:
        190577497
        10.1353/mrw.2025.a978498
      ppf: 182
      ppct: 10
      formats:
        fmt:
          – @attributes:
              type: T
          – @attributes:
              type: P
              size: 313KB
      tig:
        atl: Listening to Women: Empathy as a Method for the Study of the Witch-Trial Archives.
      aug:
        au: Hill, Abigail
        affil: Boston College
      su:
        Women
        Empathy
        Witchcraft
        Feminism
        Witches
      sug:
        subj:
          Women
          Empathy
          Witchcraft
          Feminism
          Witches
      keyword:
        agency
        empathy
        feminism
        gender history
        historiography
        Salem
        witchcraft
      ab: A feminist approach to early modern witchcraft should start from empathy. I argue that scholars must understand the people involved in witch trials, both the accused and the accusers, as individuals with their own motivations and goals. As revealed in gender based studies of witchcraft, the constraints of the social and cultural realities of early modern Europe and the limitations of the archive can obscure these individuals and their desires, but the collapsing of accusers into malevolent tools of the patriarchy and the simplification of the accused as helpless victims or as symbols of feminine power afflicts them once again in the attempt to fit a chosen narrative. Instead of re-silencing these women, and all those involved in witch trials who were not able to write their own side of the story, historians should use our knowledge of the limitations to recenter these individuals and their choices.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
    refInfo:
    copyright:
      @attributes:
        flag: Y
      custom: Copyright of Magic, Ritual & Witchcraft is the property of University of Pennsylvania Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
      item: Magic, Ritual & Witchcraft
      holder: University of Pennsylvania Press
      dt:
        @attributes:
          year: 2025
    holdings:
      @attributes:
        islocal: N