Encounters with witchcraft : field notes from Africa

Author(s)

Bibliographic Information

Encounters with witchcraft : field notes from Africa

Norman N. Miller

State University of New York Press , African-Caribbean Institute, c2012

  • : pbk

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Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. [215]-217) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Encounters with Witchcraft is a personal story of a young man's fascination with African witchcraft discovered first in a trek across East Africa and the Congo. The story unfolds over four decades during the author's long residence in and many trips to Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. As a field researcher he learns from villagers what it is like to live with witches, and how witches are seen through African eyes. His teachers are healers, cult leaders, witch-hunters and self-proclaimed "witches" as well as policemen, politicians and judges. A key figure is Mohammadi Lupanda, a frail village woman whose only child has died years before. In her dreams, however, she believes the little girl is not dead, but only lost in the fields. Mohammadi is discovered wandering at night, wailing and calling out for the child. Her neighbors are terror-stricken and she is quickly brought to a village trial and banished as a witch. The author is able to watch and listen to the proceedings and later investigate the deeper story. He discovers mysteries about Mohammadi that are only solved when he returns to the village three decades later. Today, witch-hunting and witchcraft-related crimes are found in more than seventy developing countries. Epidemics of violence against alleged witches, mainly women, but including elders of both genders, and even children is on the increase in some parts of the world. Witchcraft beliefs may lie behind vigilante murders, political assassinations, revenge killings and commercial murders for human body parts. Through African voices the author addresses key questions. Do witchcraft powers exist? Why does witchcraft persist? What are its historic roots? Why is witchcraft-based violence so often found within families? Does witchcraft serve as a hidden legal and political system, a mafia-like under-government? The author holds up a mirror for us to think about religious beliefs in our own experience that rely heavily on myth and superstition.

Table of Contents

Prologue: First Encounter 1. The Colonial Days An Archeologist’s View of Witchcraft Ancient Spirit Painting Lion-men and Colonial Witch Trials Angry Man with a Cross-bow Witchcraft and the Congo Pygmies Crocodile Bile and the Poison Principle 2. Living with Witches The Witchcraft Trial of Mohammadi The Woman Who Poisoned a Chief Witchcraft Symbols in Western Tanzania Reflections on Mohammadi 3. Through African Eyes: The Arts The Gift of an Execution Mask Seeing Witchcraft Images in Nature The Witch’s Toolkit: Implements and Artifacts Guns, Throwing Knives and Power Symbols Spirit Art and the Ideas of an African Chief 4. Witch-Hunters and Witch-Cleansers Secrets of a Professional Witch Hunter Using Witch Hunters for Political Coercion A Famous Witch-Cleanser in Malawi Faith Healers, Snake Handlers, Herbalists Kajiwe (Little Stone), Kenyan Witch-Hunter 5. Witchcraft and Violence Meeting Idi Amin in Uganda State-Sponsored Terror with Witchcraft Skin Gangs and Secret Societies On Trial: Witchcraft Court Cases A Rough Map of Witchcraft in Eastern Africa 6. The Spirit Wars How Prophet Movements Use Witchcraft Healing the Sick by the Sea “Evil Eye” Among Desert People Witchcraft violence in an African Christian Church Missionary Zeal: African Spirits versus Christian Spirits 7. Witchcraft and Juju Economics Smuggling of Witchcraft Poisons and Products Long Distance Trade in Protective Medicines The Healer’s Trade: Witchcraft as a Diagnosis Commercialization and Urbanization of Witchcraft Spirit Art, Devil Art and Modern Art for Profit Witch Beliefs as Barriers to Economic Development 8. Political Witchcraft Witchcraft Threats and Mafia-Like Politics The Tanzanian Holocaust: The Sungusungu Killings Meeting Kenya’s President Moi Devil Cults in Nairobi: Alleged Satanic Practices The Use of Witchcraft in Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army Rebellion in Kenya: The Rise of Mungiki 9. Lessons Learned “Look, There is No ‘Paranormal’” Lessons from a Little Boy How Witchcraft Really Works: An African View Death by Suggestion: A Final Confession Killing Elders as Witches, the Rise of Senecide 10. Mohammadi’s Shadow Return to my Village Dramatic Changes Over the Years Why Witches are Never Mentioned The Truth About Mohammadi’s Life The Mystery Resolved Epilogue: The Future of Witchcraft Further Reading and Bibliography Acknowledgments and Credits Index

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