Anxiety and Witchcraft in Mexican-American Acculturation

Abstract

This paper attempts to analyze the relationship between witchcraft belief and acculturation anxiety among the MexicanAmericans of South Texas. The analysis is based on research conducted by the staff of the Hidalgo Project on Differential Culture Change and Mental Health.' Anthropological studies of witchcraft have dealt primarily with primitive societies (Kluckhohn 1944; Whiting 1950; Rosenthal and Siegel 1959; Evans-Pritchard 1937). Some of the most common functions of witchcraft belief discussed in the litera-