One area of history that historians have ignored is that of children and their relationship to witchcraft and the witch trials. This thesis begins with a survey of historical done on the general theme of childhood, and moves on to review secondary literature about children and the continental witch trials. The thesis also reviews demonological theory relating to children and the roles children played in the minds of continental and English demonologists. Children played various roles: murder victims, victims of dedication to Satan, child-witches, witnesses for the prosecution, victims of bewitchment or possession, and victims of seduction into witchcraft. The final section of the thesis deals with children and English witchcraft. In England children tended to play the same roles as described by the demonologists.

This thesis discusses early modern European perceptions of body and soul in association with the increasing stringency of civilized behaviour and state formation in an effort to provide motivation for the increased severity of the witch hunts of that time. Both secondary and primary sources have been used, in particular the contemporary demonologies by such authors as Bodin, and Kramer and Sprenger. The thesis is divided into five chapters, including an Introduction and Conclusion. The body of the thesis focuses on religious, scientific, and secular beliefs (Ch. 2), appearance and characteristics of witches (Ch. 3), and the activities and behaviours/actions of witches, (Ch. 4). This study concentrates on the similarities found across Europe, and, as the majority of witches persecuted were female, my thesis emphasizes women as victims of the witch hunts.

Analisamos, neste trabalho, o filme Anticristo (2009), do cineasta Lars von Trier, tomando como base um viés crítico que contemplasse a relação entre sua construção formal e seus conteúdos implícitos e explícitos. Assim como outras obras do artista, igualmente questionadoras, perturbadoras e políticas, Anticristo mostra-se capaz de apontar dinâmicas histórico-sociais relevantes para a compreensão de seu tempo, além de desnudar diversas características substanciais do pensamento hegemônico, espantosamente naturalizadas. Nesses termos, a tese proposta é a de que o filme reapropria-se de um método estéticopolítico brechtiano com o fim de criar uma contraposição ao modelo dramático que orienta grande parte das produções cinematográficas mainstream. Sendo responsável por sua estruturação mais ampla, essa reapropriação vincula-se à formatação do foco narrativo do filme, associado à personagem masculina e plasmado com várias nuances de obras de Strindberg e de Freud, bem como do Expressionismo. Configura-se, portanto, essencial o exame da inter-relação que Anticristo apresenta entre os planos histórico e social, e os planos do indivíduo e de sua subjetividade, inclusive de sua construção psíquica. A partir dessa análise revelam-se contradições fundamentais da sociedade ocidental, sobretudo no que se refere às questões de gênero, guarnecidas pela inquietante alusão que o filme faz à caça às bruxas. / In this thesis, we analyze the film Antichrist (2009), by Lars von Trier, from a critical perspective that contemplates the relationship between its formal construction and its implicit and explicit content. As with other works by the artist, equally questioning, disturbing and political, Antichrist has shown itself capable of pointing out historical and social dynamics that are relevant to the comprehension of its time; it also lays bare several substantial characteristics of the hegemonic thinking, which are naturalized in an unsettling way. Accordingly, the proposed thesis is that a Brechtian aesthetic-political method is reappropriated by the film, in order to counterpoint the dramatic model that guides much of the mainstream film productions. Being responsible for the broader structuring of Antichrist, this re-appropriation is linked to the design of the films narrative perspective, which is associated to the male character and shaped by various nuances of works by Strindberg and Freud, and also of Expressionism. The examination of the interrelationship between the historical and social level, and the level of the individual and of his subjectivity, including his mental construction, becomes thus essential in Antichrist. From such analysis, fundamental contradictions of Western society can be unveiled, especially the ones regarding gender issues, which are furnished by the uncanny allusion to the Witch Hunt brought up by the film.

Analisamos, neste trabalho, o filme Anticristo (2009), do cineasta Lars von Trier, tomando como base um viés crítico que contemplasse a relação entre sua construção formal e seus conteúdos implícitos e explícitos. Assim como outras obras do artista, igualmente questionadoras, perturbadoras e políticas, Anticristo mostra-se capaz de apontar dinâmicas histórico-sociais relevantes para a compreensão de seu tempo, além de desnudar diversas características substanciais do pensamento hegemônico, espantosamente naturalizadas. Nesses termos, a tese proposta é a de que o filme reapropria-se de um método estéticopolítico brechtiano com o fim de criar uma contraposição ao modelo dramático que orienta grande parte das produções cinematográficas mainstream. Sendo responsável por sua estruturação mais ampla, essa reapropriação vincula-se à formatação do foco narrativo do filme, associado à personagem masculina e plasmado com várias nuances de obras de Strindberg e de Freud, bem como do Expressionismo. Configura-se, portanto, essencial o exame da inter-relação que Anticristo apresenta entre os planos histórico e social, e os planos do indivíduo e de sua subjetividade, inclusive de sua construção psíquica. A partir dessa análise revelam-se contradições fundamentais da sociedade ocidental, sobretudo no que se refere às questões de gênero, guarnecidas pela inquietante alusão que o filme faz à caça às bruxas. / In this thesis, we analyze the film Antichrist (2009), by Lars von Trier, from a critical perspective that contemplates the relationship between its formal construction and its implicit and explicit content. As with other works by the artist, equally questioning, disturbing and political, Antichrist has shown itself capable of pointing out historical and social dynamics that are relevant to the comprehension of its time; it also lays bare several substantial characteristics of the hegemonic thinking, which are naturalized in an unsettling way. Accordingly, the proposed thesis is that a Brechtian aesthetic-political method is reappropriated by the film, in order to counterpoint the dramatic model that guides much of the mainstream film productions. Being responsible for the broader structuring of Antichrist, this re-appropriation is linked to the design of the films narrative perspective, which is associated to the male character and shaped by various nuances of works by Strindberg and Freud, and also of Expressionism. The examination of the interrelationship between the historical and social level, and the level of the individual and of his subjectivity, including his mental construction, becomes thus essential in Antichrist. From such analysis, fundamental contradictions of Western society can be unveiled, especially the ones regarding gender issues, which are furnished by the uncanny allusion to the Witch Hunt brought up by the film.

[pt] Esta dissertação analisará a (re)produção das formas de controles de corpos e sexualidades em diferentes espaços e tempos. Tal análise é possível através do entendimento, desenvolvido em trabalhos anteriores, de que o pensamento moldado pela Inquisição e a caça às bruxas na Idade Média foi reproduzido durante a construção do Brasil enquanto sociedade. No trabalho presente, será somada a tal entendimento a hipótese de que o pensamento medieval continua permeando o imaginário social da sociedade brasileira na atualidade. Para tal, serão analisadas práticas de esterilização involuntárias de mulheres negras no Brasil a partir da década de 1980; assim como, discursos e práticas violentas contra a comunidade LGBTQIA+ (Lésbicas, Gays, Bissexuais, Travestis/Transexuais/Transgêneros, Queers, Intersexuais, Agêneros/Assexuais/Arromânticos e outras possibilidades de orientação sexual e identificação de gênero) perpetrados por grupos contra a ideologia de gênero, representados aqui em grande parte por membros do governo Bolsonaro. Com base em correntes teóricas feministas, principalmente dos feminismos negro e decolonial, serão ressaltados os efeitos das posicionalidades de gênero, sexualidade e raça dos sujeitos alvos de violência. / [en] This dissertation will analyze the (re)production of forms of control of bodies and sexualities in different spaces and times. Such an analysis is possible through the understanding, developed in previous works, that the thought shaped by the Inquisition and the witch hunt in the Middle Ages was reproduced during the construction of Brazil as a society. In the present work, it will be added to this understanding the hypothesis that the medieval thought continues to permeate the social imaginary of Brazilian society today. To this end, involuntary sterilization practices of black women in Brazil from the 1980s will be analyzed; as well as, violent speeches and practices against the LGBTQIA+ (Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Trans/Transsexual/Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexuals/Aromantics and other possibilities of sexual orientation and gender identification) community perpetrated by groups against the gender ideology, represented here largely by members of the Bolsonaro government. Based on feminist theoretical currents, mainly black and decolonial feminisms, the effects of the gender, sexuality and race positions of the subjects targeted by violence will be highlighted.