Gatchet, Roger. A Hystery of Colonial Witchcraft Uncovering Hidden

Gatchet, Roger “A Hytery of Colonial Witchcraft: Witch-Hunt Tourism and Commenoration in Salem, Massachussetts. Uncovering Hidden Rhetorics: Social Issues in Disguise. Ed. Barry Brummett. Sage: Los Angeles. 2008.

“The ‘witch’ label, so often used as a discursive marker to identify the so-called “monsters” of society, functions as “an approved mechanism for the disguiser, and discharge of social violence’ . . .Calling someone a monster, a witch, or any label that denotes monstrosity or “Otherness” does far more than place that person in an undesirable category—it often leads to serious real-life effects like persecution, alienation, and violence” (179). =E

So labeling women chaste or unchaste, wanton, etc. gave society an opportunity to take certain females out of the social realm.

“A dominant narrative is a privileged story, account , or way of understanding that is produced by an authority” (179). =E

So, men had the dominant narrative over social issues in conduct books, white non-profit organizations have the dominanant narrative over third world countries, etc.

“The narratives that Salem tourists encounter disguise the relationships between patriarchy and gender, and capitalism and violence, relationships essential for understanding why the hunt happened” (192). =B

“They are framed by a narrative, or narratives, that do rhetorical work leading to real life consequences (194). =E