Gender wise perception of magic and evil eye in Pakistani society

Evil eye belief is found in many parts of the world and it plays a major social role in a large number of cultural contexts. The history of evil eye bead usage dated back to ancient times, but upon time it's meaning have been reconstructed by culture. This paper focused on an amulet based commodity " evil eye bead " used against evil eye and for ornament in Turkey. In order to analyze the myth of evil eye bead, two-sectioned survey was conducted. First section determined evil eye belief rate, participant profile and objects against evil eye. In the second section, the semantic dimensions of evil eye bead was analyzed in the myth level encompassing its perception and function as a cultural opponent act. This paper interrogated the role of culture, geography, and history on the evil eye bead myth.

Drawing on recent anthropological research in Crete and northern 5 Greece, this article describes the various attitudes and conceptualisations of the 'supernatural' in the context of an everyday Greek belief, namely the belief in the 'evil eye'. The usual pre-determined representation that there are two antithetical segments of our cosmos-the perceivable, embodied, and natural on the one hand, and the spiritual, immaterial, and supernatural on the other hand-is challenged. Ultimately, 10 it is shown how the sense of belonging to the Greek cosmos calls for a re-location of the boundaries between 'naturalism' and 'supernaturalism', rendering the bipolarity between scientific and supernaturalistic ideas obsolete via perceptual experience.

Acta Psychiatrica …, 2007

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2013

The following dissertation is an historical archaeological study of the material culture of gendered protective magic used by Anglo-Europeans in seventeenth-century New England as a tactic to construct boundaries that mitigated perceived personal, social, spiritual, and environmental dangers. Such boundary construction was paramount in the seventeenth-century battle between good and evil epitomized by the belief in and struggle against witchcraft. This dissertation sought to answer three interrelated research questions: 1) What constitutes protective magical material culture in seventeenth-century contexts and how is it recognizable in the archaeological record? 2) What signifies gender specific protective magical practices and what can these differences relate about gender roles, identity, and social relationships? and 3) In what way and to what degree is the recourse to traditional beliefs significant in coping or risk management contexts? Synthesizing data from historical and folkloristic sources, and reviewing all accessible archaeological site reports and inventories from State Historic Preservation offices and principal site investigators for domestic structures in New England ca. 1620-1725 provided data to catalog and develop a typology of potential magical items. Analyzing these data then allowed the assessment of domestic and gendered patterns of magical risk management strategies. Magical content was frequently embedded within or symbolically encoded in architectural or artifactual details, whose gendered association tended to correspond with gender role activities or responsibilities; however, the general omission of magical interpretations in historical archaeology limits the visibility of potentially magical objects in site reports and inventories, so it is likely a wider range of materials and contexts exist. The final result of this dissertation was the construction of a criterion model for the identification and interpretation of magic in historical archaeological contexts, which extends the notion of ritual from specialized places and materials, and communal behaviors to include quotidian objects and settings, and individual practices. Ultimately, the results of this dissertation extend the field of the archaeology of ritual and magic in particular, and the broader field of archaeology more generally by providing theoretical and methodological tools for understanding and recognizing how magical belief contributes to physical and metaphoric boundary construction and maintenance.

This research paper focuses on the research findings regarding health belief systems, faith healing and modern biomedical healthcare systems prevailing in the Village Zandra, District Ziarat in the province of Balochistan. An effort has been made to find out the health care systems working in the village which included both beliefs and perceptions related to health and illness and also the activities which natives have adopted or developed to maintain and restore their health. Initially the natives were using traditional and spiritual healing systems but now as their economic condition and literacy rate is increasing they are more inclined towards the modern methods of treatment. During the last 3 decades many changes have been witnessed. Awareness through media and shift from subsistence to market economy has increased the use of allopathic medicines due to which the natives have started opting for secondary sources of income. Besides, researcher's endeavor to explore the shift from traditional to modern healthcare and the disparity between natives' health related beliefs and practices, the impact of these changes has been analyzed in light of world system theory at micro level. The data presented in this paper has been collected by using qualitative anthropological research techniques.

Journal of Muslim Mental Health, 2014

Theological expressions on physical and mental illness tend to be influential in shaping the beliefs of practitioners living in Muslim majority societies.. It is unknown what influence, if any, Islamic beliefs have on the conceptions of mental illness expressed by Muslim Americans. This study explores the conceptions of Muslim Americans regarding mental illness. Two hundred and fifty-five individuals identifying as Muslim American participated in a mixed-method anonymous survey. The results of the survey reveal that most Muslim American participants adhere primarily to the dominant Western biomedical model of mental illness, but open-ended responses reflect a more complex understanding of mental illness as having biological, environmental, and psycho-spiritual origins. Findings suggest that how a Muslim American interprets mental illness will most likely depend upon the symptoms and context of the illness. Further exploration is needed to understand the beliefs of Muslim Americans and the way in which these beliefs affect attitudes toward therapies and mental health services.

Abstract Fantasy novelist Terry Pratchett's Discworld is inhabited by a very diverse group of characters ranging from Death and his horse Binky, Cut-Me-Own-Throat-Dibbler, purveyor of the 'pork pie', the Wizard faculty of the Unseen University and an unofficial 'coven'of three witches.'Because three was the right number for witches… providing they are the right sort of type', according to Nanny Ogg.

Objective To develop a self-report questionnaire to measure the beliefs of Arabic primary care patients about the causes of their physical symptoms; to use this to quantify the beliefs of patients consulting their general practitioners (GPs) in Saudi Arabia; and to test whether patients with psychological problems differ from others in their beliefs, particularly religious and supernatural beliefs. Methods Consecutive patients (N = 224) completed a specially developed aetiological beliefs' questionnaire. Patients were divided into two groups (cases and non-cases of emotional disorder) according to the GHQ-12. Results Religious and supernatural aspects of culture colour patients' symptom beliefs: that their symptoms were a test or punishment from Allah' was the most common belief. Even in non-cases, around half the patients also endorsed nerves and stress as a cause of their physical symptoms. Cases were more likely than non-cases to endorse items related to both religious and psychological factors. Conclusion There is no support for the view that Saudi Arabian patients explain symptoms supernaturally as a way of denying psychological factors. GPs and health professionals in Saudi primary care need to understand what patients believe to be the cause of their problems and to appreciate that religious and psychological beliefs are both very common. GPs should address psychological beliefs and concerns even with those patients who present physical symptoms.