Beyond Superstition and Witchcraft A Return to Animism?

A recent shift in conspiracy studies suggests that ‘refuting’ may not be the first task for the academic (will denying its truth value stop followers from believing a hidden plot?). Instead an academic should first listen in order to understand how such a narrative can get hold over people’s minds. Is this shift from ‘refuting’ to ‘listening’ relevant for dealing with a recurrent opposition in ‘witchcraft’ studies between activists aiming for a radical condemnation, and anthropologists who rather strive for understanding? To what extent can the return of the ‘animism’ concept, implying a view of the person as incomplete and double, help bridging such oppositions?