For my Extension History work I would really like to focus on the Salem Witchtrials of Massachusetts in 1692. What aspect of this topic I would like to focus on however, is undecided.
I am really fascinated by the social context of that time- the religious, socio-cultural and historical influences on the town that lead to the communal hysteria at Salem. What was going on? Why blame witches? Who were those that were persecuted and why were they charged?
I'm currently on holidays, but I will be home from the 7th to the 14th of January, so I hope to get to a library during that time.
From the school library I borrowed The Crucible by Arthur Miller, and a The secret History of Witchcraft (God knows why we would have THAT in the library, and not some more decent books!), as it has a chapter on Salem, which I havn't read yet.
I was also looking on www.bookdepository.com and found some books that I am getting my Dad to buy me for Christmas-
Witch Hunts in the Western World: Persecution and Punishment from the Inquisition Through the Salem Witchtrials by Brian Alexander Pavlac
The Salem Witch Trials Reader by Francis Hill
The only problem i'm thinking is this: IS my question history based? I'm unsure how to apply it to the focus points of this subject? Is there another aspect of the Salem Witchtrials I should investigate? Or for that matter should I look at witch hunts through history, or just drop it all together?
My dinner is calling. Peace Out
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/brief-salem.html
ReplyDeleteOf course it is history based. The Salem affair has been interpreted in many different ways. Your efforts to understand the events and why historians interpret them so differently is historiography in action. It works as a a topic.
Take the short essay (link above) from the Smithsonian. It mentions various possible causes ranging from social change caused by war refugees, the influence of individuals, economic change to ergot!
ergot? well that's one I havn't heard of before! So that would presumably be from their crops?
ReplyDeleteI also heard that you could get ergot poisoning from veeeerrrryyyy dodgy tattoos- hopefully that won't lead to any more witch-hunts!