6 Chicken, Please; Hold the Poison

6 Chicken, Please; Hold the Poison
Note:6@@@@@@@@@@@ ORACOLI

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my mom, quite reasonably, began insisting that we wear deodorant.
Note:STORIA DI UN PREADOLESCENTE

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Magic 8 Ball.
Note:GIOCATTOLO DELLA MATTEL PER ELARGIRE CONSIGLI

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Inside it is a die suspended in blue fluid,
Note:BREVE DESCR

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ask it a yes-or-no question, shake it, then turn it upside down to see what the ball has answered.
Note:COME FUNZIONA

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“The 8 ball doesn’t lie!” he shouted
Note:PROBLEMA RISOLTO

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Magic 8 Ball probably arbitrated more brotherly disputes than my parents,
Note:PIÙ DI UN GENITORE

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Unfortunately, the 8 ball was no longer available to resolve our disagreement, so we threw candles at one another for 45 minutes instead.
Note:CHI HA SFASCIATO LA SFERA?... LA GRANDE LITE

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medium for divining answers to difficult questions—
Note:DIVIDERE IN DUE

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an entire society of adults to answer,
Note:I FRUITORI... NN UN PAIO DI PREADOLESC

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Azande, a people who inhabit north-central Africa. Today there are at least a million Azande;
Note:AZANDE

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E. E. Evans-Pritchard

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Ndogo tribes of Sudan,

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Balovale tribes of Zimbabwe,

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Nzakara and Apagibeti tribes

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Ngbandi tribe

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Yoruba

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core of the Zande belief system is mangu,
Note:SPIRITELLO MALIGNO

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In the intestine of some people resides a substance
Note:LA POSSESSIONE COME CONDIZIONE FISICA

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Witchhood is heritable: fathers pass it

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Most people are witches and don’t even know
Note:SOTTOLINEATA LA COND. D INNOCENZA

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ruin Zande crops, disrupt Zande hunts, cause Zande dwellings to collapse, inflict injury and illness,
Note:L AZIONE DIABOLICA

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people accused of witchcraft are neither maligned
Note:INNOCENZA DI FONDO

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command him to cease his injuries, which the unwitting witch will ordinarily do.
Note:LA PENA

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To identify the witch
Note:A CHE SERVE L ORACOLO

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Poison harvested from a special vine is fed to a fowl.
Note:COME FUNZIONA

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The consulter then asks the oracle a yes-or-no question
Note:LA DOMANDA

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The fowl’s reaction to consuming the poison—living or dying—is the oracle’s means
Note:LA RISPOSTA

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“If [a neighbor’s name] is guilty of bewitching my [hunt, person, etc.], poison oracle kill the fowl.
Note:INVOCAZIO NE MENTRE CI SI CONSULTA

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resumes friendly relations with his neighbor,
Note:SE L ORACOLO ASSOLVE

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he may have remained cold, distant, even passively hostile
Note:SENZA ORACOLO

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he says that he is very sorry and is totally ignorant
Note:RISPOSYA RITUALE AL VERDETTO DI COLPEVOLEZZA

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“and the matter is closed.”
Note:.......

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Azande used benge to resolve interpersonal conflict,
Note:FUNZIONE

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Why would shaking a poisoned chicken be a sensible means of doing that?
Note:IL PUZZLE

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think in terms of traffic lights.
Note:CONVENZIONE

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coordinate traffic,

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Imagine an intersection without a traffic light.

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drivers are in a hurry

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one of the drivers to go through the intersection and the other driver to yield.
Note:PRIMO ESITO SENZA SEMAFORO

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the latter driver goes through
Note:SECONDO ESITO

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The problem, of course, is that both drivers want to be the one who gets
Note:IL PROBLEMA

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going through the intersection without yielding, causing them to crash.
Note:TERZO ESITO

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Oracles such as the Azande’s benge work like traffic lights,
Note:ANALOGIA

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coordinate bickering

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Consider two neighbors, Myrtle and Mabel.
Note:ALTRA ANALOGIA

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Mabel and Myrtle interact closely and frequently,
Note:SEMPRE IN CAGNESCO E SEMPRE VICINE... UNA VITA IMPOSSIBILE

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Each woman can “back down” by apologizing
Note:PRIMA STRATEGIA X FRONTEGGIARE LA SITUAZIONE

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with chickens, it seems like the oracle consulter could manipulate
Note:INCONVENIENTE

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they need to be “fair”—
Note:PRIMO REQUISITO DELL'ORACOLO

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an oracle’s ability to divine “correct” answers
Note:SECONDO

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Oracles need to remove the parties’ least-preferred outcome—
Note:TERZO

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When a Zande consults benge regarding a particular person, he does so not once but twice.
Note:COME SODDISFARE IL PRIMO CRITERIO

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Similarly, recall that the benge “operator performs in public.
Note:SEMPRE PER EVITARE IL PRIMO INCONVENIENTE

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Benge results support the argument that it tends to produce opposing results with 50 percent probability.
Note:VERIFICA EMPIRICA SULLA GIUSTEZZA DEGLI ORACOLI

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why the Azande didn’t just use the legal system to resolve their conflicts.
Note:PERCHE' NON RICORRERE AL SISTEMA LEGALE?

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Raise your hand if you’ve ever been in a fight with a friend
Note:FARE CAUSA AD UN AMICO :-(

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Our legal system doesn’t recognize petty, passive, interpersonal frictions as legal offenses.
Note:INCOMPETENZA

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To cope with this “underground stream of” perceived “malice and backbiting, envy and hatred, greed and jealousy,
UN POPOLO MOLTO LITIGIOSO