El mal de ojo como enfermedad: Elitelore y folklore en Iberoamérica

Abstract

The article claims that general theories about the evil eye lore have not considered its occurrences as an illness, the gazer's and victim's characterization in terms of ancient Western medicine, as well as the naturalization of moral contents. The authors sustain that the evil eye in Iberoamerica is a folk illness, whose etiological theories exceed the human domain, including animals as aggressors. The evil eye lore as an illness incorporates natural etiologies, and social theories linked to envy, anger, fondness and love. To overcome these supposed contradictions, the authors call the attention to consider the historical processes of construction of the evil eye lore, taking into account the process of filtering down from the elite and medical official knowledge to popular sectors, underlining the relevance of being aware of the evil eye was defined as a real disease, during the Middle and Modern Ages.