Witchcraft

Problems of Defining Witchcraft

The problem starts with the definition of witchcraft. In anthropology, it used to be a central topic for the discipline. Yet, anthropologists have become increasingly wary of applying the term in the study of other cultures. Using this Western term threatens to distort the local notions that it is supposed to translate. In many parts of Africa and Melanesia, for instance, these local terms are much more ambiguous, indicating dangerous forces that have an evil purport, but also can be used more constructively. A problem is, however, that Western terms such as witchcraft, sorcery, or sorcellerie have become current all over the world. People discuss the dangers (and the possibilities) of the occult in these terms, which are central in public debates, and among politicians, lawyers, and judges.

Moreover, despite all local variations, certain basic images are common. In Cameroon, for instance, witches are supposed to leave their bodies at night and fly away to secret, nocturnal meetings with their fellow witches where they devise evil attacks on their fellow villagers. The parallels with the basic image of European witchcraft are striking. Indeed, everywhere witchcraft seems to be associated with the capacity to double oneself, with flying, and with nocturnal meetings.

Another common association is with intimacy: witchcraft often strikes from the inside (even in [Page 1587]Melanesia, where the witch is mostly an outsider, she or he can often only strike by collaborating with someone inside). There are certainly differences as well: in Africa, one usually seeks witches among one's own relatives (thus, witchcraft figures as “the dark side of kinship”), but in Europe, one looks more within the neighborhood. In Europe, mainly women (though certainly not only) are accused; in many parts of Africa, men as much as women are supposed to participate in witchcraft. In basic respects, however, there is a global convergence of these images.

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