2026-05-25T00:45:32Zhttps://keep.lib.asu.edu/oai/requestoai:keep.lib.asu.edu:node-1563822024-12-20T18:25:12Zoai_pmh:alloai_pmh:repo_items156382
https://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.I.49239
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
All Rights Reserved
2018
53 pages
Masters Thesis
Academic theses
Text
eng
Schweigert, Laisa
Fahs, Breanne
Swank, Eric
Kirsch, Sharon J.
Arizona State University
Partial requirement for: M.A., Arizona State University, 2018
Includes bibliographical references (pages 45-48)
Field of study: Social Justice and Human Rights
In this paper, I explore the ways in which the radical feminist activist group W.I.T.C.H. (Women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell) uses the figure of the witch to establish a collective identity as a social movement by using the theoretical framework of identity work. I first draw on the existing scholarship surrounding the history of witchcraft, witch persecution, and radical feminism, and I then apply this history in conjunction with identity work theory to analyze the public persona of the recently revived W.I.T.C.H., specifically the group that brought this movement back: W.I.T.C.H. PDX. By looking at the strategies that W.I.T.C.H. employs in their protest, social media presence, website, and interviews, I examine how W.I.T.C.H. has historically and currently built a collective identity despite being a loosely-connected network of local groups.
Sociology
Women's Studies
feminist protest
identity work
radical feminism
W.I.T.C.H.
Witchcraft
Feminism
Witchcraft
Radicalism
W.I.T.C.H. and Witchcraft in radical feminist activism