The Wicked Witch of the West—and the Rest

Abstract: This introductory essay traces Marshall Sahlins' enduring interest in "The West" as simultaneously similar to the rest of the world ("we are one of the others") and radically different from "most of humanity." Central to this ambivalent binary is Sahlin's comparison of instrumental self-maximizing rationality—which Sahlins takes to be emblematic of "Western" cosmologies—and the suite of characteristics most other cultures ascribe to witchcraft. For Sahlins, Westerners are witches, and vice versa.