About the author
Nils Bubandt is a Danish anthropologist whose work is grounded in long-term fieldwork in Indonesia. His book The Empty Seashell: Witchcraft and Doubt on an Indonesian Island (Cornell University Press, 2014) is based on more than three years of research conducted between 1991 and 2011 on the island of Buli, and it examines what it means to live in a community where cannibal witches are taken as real yet remain too shifting and contradictory to be settled objects of belief. Rather than treating witchcraft as a static local tradition, the book uses doubt itself as its analytical starting point, tracing how belief and skepticism coexist in everyday life. It is shelved under witchcraft and Wicca and is aimed at readers of anthropology and religious studies as much as at those with a general interest in witchcraft.
📖 Where to start with Nils Bubandt
💬 What our editors say about Nils Bubandt's books
“Nils Bubandt delivers a rigorous academic exploration of Buli witchcraft beliefs, focusing on the paradox of tangible yet undefined 'gua'. While intellectually stimulating for anthropologists and scholars of religion, this book…”
Esoterica Books editorial team, Occult literature desk · on The Empty Seashell: Witchcraft and Doubt on an Indonesian Island
“Bubandt delivers a rigorous academic exploration that may alienate casual readers seeking accessible narratives or practical witchcraft guides. The text prioritizes dense anthropological theory over storytelling, making it…”
Esoterica Books editorial team, Occult literature desk · on The Empty Seashell: Witchcraft and Doubt on an Indonesian Island
