Discursos brujescos ambivalentes

La bruja como delincuente y como víctima en la serie de televisión El ministerio del tiempo

Abstract

Among the historical outsider figures, the witch occupies a prominent position. As a representative of heterodox beliefs, she is persecuted by the Catholic Church without any mercy and, due to her often deviant behavior – for example her extraordinary knowledge – she is excluded from society by the mass of the rural population. The article reveals the outsider status of women accused of being witches as a social construct, taking into account the early modern context on the one hand and a modern TV series, El ministerio del tiempo, on the other. The analysis of historical sources and the episode “Tiempo de hechizos” shows how rumors are created and used. In addition, the complexity of the witch’s image is taken into account: As the episode makes clear, the witch can fulfill both roles in the dispute of interpretation: that of the victim and that of the offender.