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Witches as Monsters

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Feminist Afterlives of the Witch

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in (Re)Presenting Gender ((PSRG))

Abstract

This chapter considers how witches are remembered and re-remembered as monsters in popular culture texts, and how feminist acts of activist memory have (re-)structured and (re-)shaped these memories to align with feminist politics and principles. Feminist acts of remembering the witch as a monster not only reconceptualize what makes her monstrous, but also turn her monstrosity into a source of power. This chapter explores how the witch’s monstrosity is aligned with abjection, queerness, and utopianism in popular culture texts, and how these modes of witchy monstrosity are re-remembered (or re-membered) in feminist activist memory. Consequently, this chapter considers the paradox at the heart of feminist activist memories of the witch: the witch’s horror is not erased or removed but is remembered and revised in light of contemporary mnemonic and political necessities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of English, Creative Writing, and Film, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Brydie Kosmina

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  1. Brydie Kosmina
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Correspondence to Brydie Kosmina .

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Kosmina, B. (2023). Witches as Monsters. In: Feminist Afterlives of the Witch. Palgrave Studies in (Re)Presenting Gender. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25292-1_4

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