Witches and Exorcists: A Case Study of an Under-studied Informal Economy in Post-colonial Latin America

Abstract

Witchcraft in Honduras is an unprotected marginalized woman’s efforts to gain social, economic, and political power through an informal economy by utilizing the cultural belief in the witches’ supernatural power. The Honduran post-colonial Latin American culture allows for a persistent informal economy, in part, based on the commoditization of witchcraft and exorcism. The case study provides a specific example through ethnographic interviews of this under-researched informal economy driven by fear and economic desperation. Further research and analysis of these poorly understood and rarely recorded modern phenomena and the associated informal economy is needed.

Citation

Hawkinson, C. (2023), "Witches and Exorcists: A Case Study of an Under-studied Informal Economy in Post-colonial Latin America", Fiorito, L., Scheall, S. and Suprinyak, C.E. (Ed.) Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology: Including a Selection of Papers Presented at the First History of Economics Diversity Caucus Conference (Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, Vol. 41B), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 83-96. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0743-41542023000041B005