Suicide

Suicide in Africa has an indigenous aspect, a modern aspect, and a large grey area where the two blend that has yet to be thoroughly studied. The relatively few modern studies include such small populations that any general statement would be inadequate, except that suicide exists in modern Africa, and most of the cases documented are linked to depression, drug or alcohol abuse, pesticide poisoning, physical illness, or mental illness. However, in the traditional context, suicides were seen as the result not of personal troubles but of a conflict between one or more members of the community. For example, a person who kills himself would do so with the understanding that, as a ghost, he could inflict evil and harm on his enemies more effectively. Also, the person who kills himself knows that the community will go after the person or persons who caused him to commit the act, which is another way to exact revenge. In fact, it could be said that an indigenous African community's perspective on suicide is that it is an act of homicide. That is, if a person were to take his life, the community would immediately begin to look for the person who caused the person to kill himself, or “the murderer.” Among the Tshi, if a particular person was named during the suicide, that person could possibly be killed in the same manner. This type of suicide was rare, and if it happened, families would opt to receive damages by the offending party. With the living forced to bear the burden of a suicide, the threat of suicide in the traditional setting was a serious matter. Nor was death in this context feared. Kassena women of northern Ghana knew that if they killed themselves, it would ruin their husbands. Husbands were well aware of this fact, and it functioned as a form of social control. Among the Bavenda, all the relatives of the person who has committed suicide are called before the chief, and the goods and wife of the person are confiscated until the guilty party declares himself. A diviner may be consulted to determine the cause of death. If it was a spirit, then the goods are returned to the family. Even in suicide, African religious culture is consistent. First, suicide is not just about the individual. The community in some way is held accountable and suffers the consequences. Second, the spirit world plays an active role in the perception of suicide. If Africans did not believe spirits have the ability to interfere with man, suicide, as a form of revenge, would be a pointless endeavor.