Anthropology of curses

(El poder de las palabras)

Abstract

The symbolic order offers a great number of opportunities for understanding man’s greatest fears. Based on Lévi-Strauss’ original concept, we can study the symbolic efficacy of curses and enrich it with the most recent contributions of neuroscience, philosophy, and the anthropology of consciousness. This is a report of qualitative research traversed by the methods of phenomenology and symbolic hermeneutics on a rarely addressed subject of unique significance to cultural psychiatry. We have worked on the empirical data of some classic religious curses of great historical value, but we have also inquired into the phenomenon of secular excommunication. Finally, we have interpreted the symbols used in curses and the areas of the psyche that they succeed in mobilizing. We suggest that the primary core of curses is dogma, without which their symbolic efficacy would not be possible.