Schoeck_2010_EnvyATheoryOfSocialBehaviour.pdf

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ENVY AND BLACK MAGIC
hospitality and the like, even though the person concerned may be
extremely, unpleasant. Kluckhohn explains this by, among other things,
the high value set by the Navaho on a long life. Those who achieve it seek
to keep it, often at the cost of younger people. These Indians are
generally suspicious of all persons in extreme positions-the very rich,
the very poor, the influential siriger, the extremely old. They believe that
only dead relatives can become hostile spirits. A person must belong to
the dead man's clan to be able to see his spirit. 2
The extent to which Navaho life is overshadowed by the ubiquity of
witches is matched only by their unwillingness to discuss it. White men
have often spent years among them without obtaining any exact idea of
the seriousness and extent of this cultural feature. Even those Navaho
who have completely emancipated themselves from all the other aspects
of their tribal religion are still subject to the fear of witches. 3
Some anthropologists see in witchcraft beliefs a useful safety valve, an
understandable and desirable institution whereby intersocial tensions
are regulated. Kluckhohn, however, maintains that the destructive and .
inhibiting effect of these ideas has been grossly underrated, and that they
are much more likely to give rise to timidity and to restrict social
relations than to bring about a healthy abreaction of aggressive feelings. 4
Envy and suspected witchcraft
Kluckhohn leaves no room for doubt as to the immediate connection
between envy and suspected witchcraft. Among the Navaho a person
becomes a witch (having inherited the craft from one of his parents) 'in
order to wreak vengeance, in order to gain wealth, or simply to injure
wantonly-most often motivated by envy. ,5 A special kind of witchcraft,
frenzy witchcraft, is black magic directed principally against those who
are prosperous. A Navaho described this to Kluckhohn as follows:
'That's when they see you got the best of goods all the time, good
children, good wife. That man from over there, that bad man might
think, "We'll break up that home." ,6
2 C. Kluckhohn, Navaho Witchcraft, pp. 15,59.
3 C. Kluckhohn, The Navaho, pp. 128 f.
4 C. Kluckhohn, Navaho Witchcraft, p. 68.
5 Ibid., p. 15.
6 Op. cit., p. 111.