conditions. In traditional beliefs the witches were relatives or in-laws;
one had to identify them to solve the problem. In more modern devel-
opments the witches are anonymous and rituals offer a general protec-
tion against their attacks. The traditional version was clearly inspired by
village-based forms of exchange, in which people cooperated mainly
with kin or kith and knew them personally. The modern version follows
a general transition to market economies and a constant influx of people
into the cities, changing the format of social exchange. In both contexts
the way you exchange directs the way you construe the arch-cheaters.
In a similar way, in the French case described by Favret-Saada, the
[200] witch's tricks are alwaysconstrued as attacks against the economic
potential of the targeted family. Favret-Saada notes that the husband-
father, the head of the household and the person who needs the
"strength" to keep it running, is the prime target even though his fam-
ily, relatives, cattle and fields are often affected. This interpretation is
general and unproblematic, as is the notion that the "strength" is
something that is usually invested in economic exchange. Nonwitches
invest their strength in growing crops, raising cattle, selling their pro-
duce. Witches are pushed by their excessive strength to cheat and reap
benefits for which they have paid no costs.
SUPERNATURAL AGENTS AS
EXCHANGE PARTNERSIt is quite easy to understand the emotional intensity associated with
misfortune—people are considering the possible loss of possessions or
health or even life. But the particular waysin which they represent
these situations are framed by their social interaction inference sys-
tems; evil spirits are enforcers of unfair deals, the angered ancestors
are enforcers of fair ones, people who give others the evil eye are
overreacting cheater-detectors and witches are genuine cheaters.
So why put gods and spirits in your explanations of misfortune? It
is clearly not just because gods and spirits are powerful. First, people
sometimes explain misfortune without any reference to any special
agents: this is the case in evil-eye beliefs. Second, even when people
consider agents with special powers, they do not bother to imagine
how these powers work. They are simply not interested in the process.
But then consider the question in a slightly different way. People have
inference systems for social interaction, which for instance guide theirRELIGION EXPLAINED