I. Witchcraft

A. Definition: a belief that certain individuals or spiritual entities have the power to effect bad and good through a command of magical practices
B. Witches perform magical acts related to fertility of humans, animals, land
C. Common features of witchcraft in Africa

1. Connected to social relations, esp. peers, kin, co-wives
2. Peasant societies
3. Related to reproduction of everyday life
4. Gender distinctions

a. Female witches: typically stigmatized
b. Male witches: typically can have political power, public positions of authority

D. Witchcraft expresses ambivalence toward power

 

II. Evans-Pritchard and Azande witchcraft

A. Witchcraft, Magic, and Oracles among the Azande (1937)
B. Intellectual logic of Zande beliefs in witchcraft

1. Witches cause misfortune
2. Example: thatched hut burns
3. Witchcraft explains why me, why now

C. Intellectualist approach: witchcraft is part of logical belief system
D. Witchcraft is hard to disprove
E. Other features of witchcraft

1. Explains mental illness: Nigerian folk curers
2. Means of social control: successful trader in Tanzania

 

III. Spirit Possession

A. Definition: a condition in which someone is affected by forces or entities that are normally invisible and external to humans

1. Forces can be ghosts, spirits, demons, or gods
2. Africa: possessing spirits are dead ancestors or mythical culture heroes

B. Meaning of spirit possession depends on context: example of Vietnam

1. Intentional spirit possession in Vietnam

a. Spirits are local deities, historical figures
b. Hosts are ritual specialists -- Buddhist monks, priests, shamans, spirit mediums
c. Mediums can heal and predict future

2. Unintentional spirit possession in Vietnam

a. Spirits are hungry, malevolent wandering ghosts
b. Ancestor worship (home altar, offerings, and grave)
c. Legacy of war

C. Spirit possession rituals
D. Political danger of spirit possession

1. Superstitious
2. Waste of time and money
3. Cao Dai as catalyst for political movement (Holy See and prayer service)

 

IV. Interpreting Spirit Possession

A. Gives marginalized a voice

1. Gain status temporary
2. Protected from repercussions: "it wasn't me"

B. Justification for dominant morality: "the ancestors say so"
C. Symbolic expression of collective understandings
D. Means of tracing and creating human connections
E. Method of healing
F. Part of social life
G. Ethnohistory: Ghosts in Vietnam
H. Power of spirit mediums

1. Economic
2. Social
3. Political

 

For more information, contact:  aleshkow@holycross.edu