ABSTRACT
Today, Witchcraft is recommended to students as an important text in the history of theory and practice in anthropology. Edward Evans-Pritchard's rich and carefully considered writing is also considered an example of good style. Evans-Pritchard was known for a level of human interest in his work that today, despite aspects that have inevitably dated, renders Witchcraft a surprisingly modern read. His intellectual biography is one of creative fusion between theistic inclinations, intense social-scientific curiosity, and a vibrant personality. Evans-Pritchard conducted his fieldwork for Witchcraft in a southern region of the Sudan, administered at the time as an Anglo-Egyptian colony. The production of Witchcraft suggests that there is some truth in both positions. Colonial backing was an equally mixed blessing in Evans-Pritchard's anthropological career-for example, in 1930 he arrived among the Nuer to considerable hostility because of recent government intervention in the area.
