User:Aravoir/Evaluate an Article

Evaluate an article
This is where you will complete your article evaluation. Please use the template below to evaluate your selected article.


 * Name of article: Witchcraft in Latin America (Witchcraft in Latin America)
 * Briefly describe why you have chosen this article to evaluate: This article was chosen due to its relationship with HIS303: Colonial Latin America to 1810 and the class's coverage of alternative belief systems pre-colonization and pre-Catholicism. This article was also chosen as it has limited information, and needs to be expanded upon to include sociological, anthropological, historical, and cultural impacts, and address the issue in which the term "Brujería" is thrown around in an uneducated manner.

Lead

 * Guiding questions


 * Does the Lead include an introductory sentence that concisely and clearly describes the article's topic? Yes
 * Does the Lead include a brief description of the article's major sections? Somewhat, as it highlights the term and basic origins, but does not allude to further history or background information.
 * Does the Lead include information that is not present in the article? Yes, such as important terminology related to the topic (bruja vs. brujo).
 * Is the Lead concise or is it overly detailed? It is very concise and could use extra information to round out the scope of the topic.

Content

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article's content relevant to the topic? Yes
 * Is the content up-to-date? Yes, in 2020.
 * Is there content that is missing or content that does not belong? Contents are not as detailed as they could be, and there is also inaccurate and necessary information that seems to be missing regarding contextualization, duality of terms, and historical background.
 * Does the article deal with one of Wikipedia's equity gaps? Does it address topics related to historically underrepresented populations or topics? The topic addresses a historically underrepresented population through it being dedicated to a minority religious/spiritual population, in addition to being an underrepresented global area.

Tone and Balance

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article neutral? Yes, although there appears to be a slight bias in support of brujas and brujos given the negative slant of the Catholic church in the article.
 * Are there any claims that appear heavily biased toward a particular position? There seems to be a dislike of the Catholic Church in the article.
 * Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented? No
 * Does the article attempt to persuade the reader in favor of one position or away from another? Away from the idea of Brujería being a scary or negative religious practice.

Sources and References

 * Guiding questions


 * Are all facts in the article backed up by a reliable secondary source of information? Source 2 does not seem reliable as it is sourced from a Pop Culture Dictionary, though it is only for pronunciation purposes.
 * Are the sources thorough - i.e. Do they reflect the available literature on the topic? The sources are pretty thorough, although most of the sources seem to be older and not reflective of modern accounts.
 * Are the sources current? As stated above, the sources are older (2012 and older), with only one source in 2019 by Teen Vogue, so this may not be enough to reflect the uptake in Brujería and other traditional witchcraft practices that has surged over the past five years in particular.
 * Are the sources written by a diverse spectrum of authors? Do they include historically marginalized individuals where possible? The sources seem to be diverse, and inclusive of POC authors, especially Latin American backgrounds.
 * Check a few links. Do they work? All links work.

Organization

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article well-written - i.e. Is it concise, clear, and easy to read? Yes, it is well-written and easy to understand from a layperson's perspective.
 * Does the article have any grammatical or spelling errors? None
 * Is the article well-organized - i.e. broken down into sections that reflect the major points of the topic? Yes, it is organized well, in the following order: Intro, Concept, Origins, Modernization of Brujería, Practice, In Popular Culture, See Also.

Images and Media

 * Guiding questions


 * Does the article include images that enhance understanding of the topic? No
 * Are images well-captioned? N/A
 * Do all images adhere to Wikipedia's copyright regulations? N/A
 * Are the images laid out in a visually appealing way? N/A

Checking the talk page

 * Guiding questions


 * What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic? Conversations consisted of discussing the origin of the word "Brujería" and the origins of the people behind the word, concluding that 'Brujería' comes from "Brusha-eria" or "Broom-maker", perhaps eventually "broom-rider". Other conversations regard the spelling of Brujería, specifically the inclusion of the tilde on the 'i'. There is also an individual claiming that using the terms "brujo/bruja" to non-Spanish speakers indicates that the person is from Spanish descent AKA Brujería is Spanish witchcraft - however, this is disagreed upon by others both on the grounds that "Spanish" does not include Latino/a and Hispanic persons who practice it, and that the term is general to any witchcraft user of any culture unless capitalized. There is also arguments that "Brujería" is simply the Spanish term for witchcraft, as with "brujo/bruja", and is not its own religion or indicative of any kind of "Spanish/Hispanic/Latin witchcraft".
 * How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects? It is rated as Start-Class on the quality scale and Low Importance on the importance scale; it is included in the scope of the WikiProject Occult and WikiProject Neopaganism.
 * How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class? Although we have not discussed the topic, it is definitely much more exclusive and lacks the typical research we see in the topics we study in class.

Overall impressions

 * Guiding questions


 * What is the article's overall status? The article's overall status is quite incomplete. While many of the basic ideas of Brujería are communicated, it lacks critical information regarding participants, the duality of the term itself (the word for witchcraft in Spanish and, more divergently, a way of religious and spiritual practice), and the history of the term.
 * What are the article's strengths? The article's strengths are that it is well organized, and written in an informative manner that means that laypersons unfamiliar with Witchcraft in Latin America can comprehend it.
 * How can the article be improved? Dedicating time to explaining that witchcraft in Latin America looks different for each individual, that "Brujería" is both a term for witchcraft and a set of spiritual and religious practices, that "Brujería" can encompass multiple disciplines such as Santería, Curanderismo, and other mixed religious and spiritual practices.
 * How would you assess the article's completeness - i.e. Is the article well-developed? Is it underdeveloped or poorly developed? The article is underdeveloped in multiple aspects.

Optional activity

 * Choose at least 1 question relevant to the article you're evaluating and leave your evaluation on the article's Talk page. Be sure to sign your feedback with four tildes — ~


 * Link to feedback: Talk:Witchcraft in Latin America