Gales 1

Johnathan Gales

Terrell Foster

Elexus Franklin

Allison Ortega

Lymonte’ Thomas

Mrs. Floyd

Honors English 11

22 January 2014

African and Indian Witch Hunts

Conroy, Scott. “Modern-Day Witch Hunt in Remote India”. CBS News, 22 August 2006. Web.

22 January 2014

Five villagers in northeastern India were found hacked to death after being

accused of witchcraft. The article also talks about six armed men with machetes stormed

a house hacked three members to death.

This source is very useful. This one source gives different scenarios of Indian

witch hunts. The information is reliable. The source is objective. The goal of the source is

to give us information on witch hunts in India. The source is helpful.

The source shapes my argument by showing different events of witch hunting. I

can use this by showing different scenarios of modern day witch hunting in India.

Dungdung, Gladson. "Hunting Witches or Hunting Women?." Jharkhand Mirror. Jharkhand

Mirror: The Voice of Indigenous Peoples, Sept.-Oct. 2004. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.

Dungdung cites a commonly known myth in India that explains the reason why

witchcraft started. He also dwells deep into the culture and history of certain Indian

communities, such as the Adivasi, and how they have shaped witchery. Dungdung mainly

focuses on how women are mainly to blame for almost anything but mostly witchcraft in

India by stating that when someone dies, a woman is usually accused before a man. He

also provides statistics and numbers, stating that old and unprotected women are usually

the suspects of witch cases.

This article is very useful, because it answers a lot of questions. Like the other

sources in my bibliography, this article explains why these women are accused and what

happens after they are accused. I do believe my articles are definitely alike. This

information is very reliable because it is not biased. The goal of this source seems to be to

give in-depth insight of the “who, what, why, when, and how” of Indian witchery.

Dundung’s article was definitely helpful. If someone reading or looking over my

project had any questions concerning the information provided, I think their answers

would be easily answered because of the amount of information in these articles. This

one along with the others gives a lot of insight and descriptive details about these women

who are helpless. Before I started researching this topic, I thought that if these women

were accused of witchery, it was definitely likely that they are or were guilty. However,

now having read these articles, I know that this has not always been the case.

Fagotto, Matteo. "The Witch Hunts of India." Rss. Friday Magazine, 4 Sept. 2013. Web. 19 Jan.

2014.

This article tells of women being accused of witchcraft in India. Fagotto has

consulted some women who have been shunned as witches by their communities. They

talk about the events that led up to the accusations, consequences, social alienation, and

vindication. The women Fagotto interviewed were lucky enough to have still been alive,

because according to the article, most women in Indian accused of witchcraft are brutally

tortured and even murdered. Fagotto also focuses on other reasons why the women may

have been accused of witchcraft, such as to take money and land from the women.

Towards the end of the article, Fagotto also mentions women who are taking part in

helping these alleged witches by taking legal action

Because this source includes other primary sources, I do find it helpful for my

research. It is not based on opinion; reliable people have been questioned and have told

their stories. Fagotto’s article gives me a firsthand insight on witchcraft that happens in

India. I feel as though the goal of this source was to inform readers of what is a big issue

over in India and to bring awareness and knowledge to it. Fagotto definitely did achieve

the goal.

Now that I’ve read this article, I know more about what I want to add to my

research. Instead of my research being strictly focused on occultism in India, now it can

include ways people are trying to help stop the finger pointing, allegations, and false

premises of these women. The article gives me more insight on why people have been

falsely accused of witchcraft and what happens after they have been accused.

Hagen, Rune Blix. "The Witch-hunts… African Sorcerers."The Witch-hunts… African Sorcerer

N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Jan. 2012 http://ansatte.uit.no/rune.hagen/africanwitches.htm>.

Vicious cycles of brutal persecution, rape and ritual killings occur in South Africa. These

inhabitants believe the African witches fly at night, eat children, and are in league with the

powers of evil. They also believe these witches transform themselves into animals, and they

frequently gather in organized company with other witches.

This article just gives facts about how people are found to be witches. It does not

have creditable sources and uses information from a subjective point of view.

This source will most likely not be used in the research, but if it is to be used, it would

only be to give a quote from the subjective point of view.

Hari, Johann. "African Witch Hunts." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media,

n.d. Web.20 Jan. 2014. <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/witch- hunt-

africas-hidden-war-on-women-1642907.html>.

In Villages across Africa, old women suspected of witchcraft are hacked to death,

while young girls are mutilated to preserve their abstinence, but attitudes are changing;

thousands of lives are being saved. This article is recent and also seems very reliable. It

offers quotes and stories from African women, who have been hunted and abused. This

article is essential because of its honest and down-to-earth perspective, and its rally

approach.

Independent Digital News and Media’s article offers pragmatic facts about the

African Women witch hunts taking place in Kenya and Tanzania. Hari takes a sensible

approach toward this subject, exposing the horrible realities taking place in Africa. In

doing this he is able to turn heads and bring attention to this witch situation.

This editorial would be a great source to use in this project. By using a realistic

approach, it gives the article a sense of truth. The topic is not too specific and is broad

enough to incorporate into an essay.

Hazz, C.. N.p.. Web. 21 Jan 2014. <http://harlcazz.bravepages.com/library/Paganism/Pagan

History and Facts/Witchhunts in Africa.htm>.

This article covers witch hunts in Africa. It gives examples of the factors that

drive witch hunts. It also discusses. It also covers many misconceptions containing

witch hunts. This article points out analogies that compare and contrast situations in the

socieconomic, industrial, and political items.

This source is helpful in comparison to modern day McCarthyism in the United

States with ancient and current African witch hunts. It is an excellence source in with it

gives an excellent overview of what the dynamics of witch hunt are. The information is

very reliable since it is based on what statistical data compiled and collected.

This source was very helpful. It helps to pave way for my expose on witch craft.

It has affected my perception of witch hunts and caused me take a more reflective

position. It fits into my research as the opening and pivotal parts of the research.

The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, n.d. Web. 20 Jan. 2014.

This article depicts the atrocities of the plague in Africa called witch hunting.

This article is biased against witch hunting, stopping just short of saying witches don’t

exist. The raw horror of the brutality against the victims of these witch hunts serves to

inflame passion and moral fibers against witch hunting.

In comparison with some of the other sources cited in the bibliography, this one

helps to guide the reader to some of the major arguments. One major argument reflected

in this article is that the witch hunts are based not necessarily on the fact that the victims

are witches, but is focused on the fact that the ones varying out the witch hunts usually

seem to profit from the death of the so-called witches.

This source is helpful in that it is one of the main components that force the reader

to take an unbiased look at why witch hunts are perpetrated. Much of the data is based

on eye witness accounts. This source will primarily to present a protagonist perspective

on witch hunts.

"The Indian Witch-Hunt." The Indian Witch-Hunt. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2014.

This article sheds light on those who are truly practicing the dark arts and

mysticism. Many witches and wizards that cast spells and brew potions hide in secret

their evil and murderous plots. This article speaks of those that use tantras to perform

supernatural crimes against men and nature. The consequences of their actions seem to

be what started wish hunts initially and allow them to continue now.

The value of this source to my research is that it helps to balance several of the

other sources that seem to show that the witch hunts have no validity in the performance

of witchcraft. In comparison to the other sources, it is very powerful and thought-

provoking. This information while being reliable is not supported by statistical data, but

the validity is attested to by the fact that the perpetrators, if exposed face the penalty of

death. This information appears to be objective since those revealing it have nothing to

gain, and everything to lose.

This source helped to support the basis for those that support witch hunts in

showing that witchcraft is still practiced. This will be used to show an alternative motive

for witch hunts, other than greed. This served to move me towards the middle of the road

as to my perspective towards witch hunts.

Jaspreet. “Witch Hunts in India”. sites.google.com. No publication date. Web. 22 January 2013.

This source is about women being hanged up and tortured for supposedly

practicing witchcraft. The topics that are covered are the enemies and the hunters of the

witch hunt.

In a summary of the article you might need some detail to get to the full picture.

This source was helpful to me.

The source gave me more insight of the horrible things that happened to these

women. It hasn’t change my mind about my topic.

McKenzie, David."Kenya Witches." CNN. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 20 Jan. 2014.

<http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/06/12/kenya.witches/index.html?section=cnn

latest>.

In May, news outlets in Kenya told the story of 15 people , mostly elderly women,

who were killed in a witch hunt. The article tells of a Justus Bosire, whose house in

Kegogi Village, Kenya was ransacked and burned to the ground. Bosire came back, from

out on his hunt, to find his grandmother murdered under burnt embers, and his father

missing. The killers claimed that Bosire’s grandmother anf father were practicing

witchery. The article also comes with an attached video of Justus Bosire giving his

account of what happened, making this source very reliable.

McKenzie’s commentary gives real-life feedback from a person with a horrible

background in witch hunting. By exposing this story to the public, it helps people realize

we cannot condone what is happening in other countries, and we must retaliate to end this

cruelty.

Using this in our PowerPoint will give us real life accounts of purported abuse from

alleged witchcraft. It is helpful and very specific, but will go great with our other sources.

The video will also give viewers more insight into the real world of witch craft.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/06/12/kenya.witches/index.html?section=cnn_

atest#cnnSTCVideo.

 “Modern DayWitch Hunts In India." HubPages. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2014.

This article shows that like some of the African witch hunts, some of the Indian

witch hunts are once again fueled by greed and envy. In this patriarchal society, women

that obtain property and power are a threat to the status quo. These women are feared by

the men in society and must be eliminated at all cost. The Indian witch hunts have an

even more sinister side than the African witch hunts.

It is equally as powerful as the other sources. The information is very reliable and

factually based. Since the information is factually based, it is very objective. This source

seeks to shed light on the true nature of most of these witch hunts.

This source was very helpful. It allowed me to present a broad-based perspective

on witch hunts. I used this source to support one of my foundational arguments. It is a

cohesive supporting tool as a source for this research. This source allows my paper to be

presented without personal bias and to safeguard against my feelings being reflected in

the presentation.

Mungai, Michael. "Americans Should Protest Nigerian Witch-Hunter's Visit." The Huffington Post.

TheHuffingtonPost.com, 11 Jan. 2012. Web. 18 Jan. 2014.

This article is about Helen Ukpabio, a Nigerian evangelist, who travels to United

States and she preaches about evil spirits and how do deal with them. Many would laugh

at her beliefs but you can’t forget that she is a notorious child-witch hunter. Ukpabio

alleges that Satan constantly manifests himself in the bodies of children through demonic

possession, turning them into witches and wizards. Condemned as witches, these children

are splashed with acid, buried alive, immersed in fire or expelled from their communities.

Ukpabio is described as a Christian fundamentalist and a Biblical literalist who

uses her sermons, teachings and prophetic declarations to incite hatred, intolerance and

persecution of alleged witches and wizards. Ukpabio believes she has the power to target

and exorcise demons became she was allegedly once a witch is now has an anointed

mission free children from Satan’s grip. Ukpabio may not be able to convince Americans

that their screaming toddlers are possessed be demons but as for gullible Nigerian parents

they take things seriously resulting in them hurting their own children who are often just

fussy or sick.

The article seems like a good up-to-date source about my topic. It has very real,

specific, and credible examples on witch hunts going on now. The article is fairly

scholarly and comes from a pretty credible and popular database.

Naiduk, CJ. "Modern Day Witch Hunts In India." HubPages. Hub Pages, 20 May 2012. Web. 21

Jan. 2014.

This article adds to Fagotto’s article. It further explains how bizarre people’s

accusations against these women can be. Naiduk includes numbers and numerical

research to enhance his information. Like Fagotto, he talks about the lack of knowledge

of these accusations and the reasons behind them. Naiduk also focuses on India being

mainly patriarchal, meaning that the men typically get the upper hand while the women

suffer horrendously at times.

“Modern Day Witch Hunts in India” is definitely a reliable source, because it also

includes women who have been accused of witchcraft. Naiduk takes excerpts from other

articles and blends them in order to improve his information. Along with Fagotto’s

article, this article tells about the reasoning behind these allegations and how senseless

they are. Naiduk made sure to underline the fact that there does not take much for a

woman to be accused of witchcraft in India. I do believe his approach is objective,

because he gathered strong information to support his argument.

This source is definitely helpful because it adds to the information I have

accumulated. It increases my understanding by not only repeating the information I

already know, but also adding more useful material, too.

Niazi, Shuriah. "India: Protective Laws Fall Short for Women Charged With Witchcraft."WNN.

Women News Network, 21 Mar. 2010. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.

Niazi argues that witchcraft in India is not diminishing. It is not properly cared

about, either. Along with my previous articles, this article tells of a woman who was

taken away from her home and ostracized from the community. This article adds that

witchcraft usually takes place in poor areas of India. It also tells about public

punishments that are extremely humiliating and unhumane used against these women.

Niazi also explains how a change in India could happen if people were not scared to

speak up in fear of retaliation.

This resource is useful; however, because it repeats the same information from

my other articles, I could only add bits and pieces of information I attained from this

article. One positive thing about this article, though, is the fact that I would definitely be

able to use certain information as supporting details. I do believe this commentary is

reliable because like my other articles, it is not biased. Niazi interviews people and adds

their opinions to his article.

Niazi’s article is slightly helpful, because it adds supporting details to my

research. It has not changed how I think of my topic because it supports my previous

findings.

Petraitis, Richard. "The Witch Killers of Africa (2003)." The Witch Killers of Africa. N.p., n

n.d. Web.20 Jan.2014.http://infidels.org/library/modern/richard_petraitis/witch _killers.

html>.

In June of 2001, villagers of Congo’s northeast provinces, a witch eradication

campaign began. Alleged witches were hacked apart by giant machete-wielding

vigilantes. Three-hundred villagers were killed in the first days of the witch paranoia,

which soon rose to eight-hundred.

Petraitis is very practical in expressing the realities of this subject. He uses very vivid

and graphic imagery. The way he uses vigilance, to describe a group of people who

undermine authority and kill relentlessly because of their beliefs, shows how down-to-

earth his opinions are.

Petraitis’ facts are very grounded and are backed up with sources of information,

videos, and pictures. Although he is subjective, his information well put together, and

makes the article very credible. I feel this is a good source and will be used in our

research.

Rogers, Jenny. “Modern-Day Witch Hunt in Remote India”. Amer-Lit-Puritan-Textbook. No

publish date. Web. 22 January 2014.

This article is comparing the witch hunts in India to the Crucible. The topics in

this source are just like source one. Yes the summary summarizes without adding extra

detail.

The source is helpful to the project because it compares and contrasts with the

Crucible. This source is biased. The goal of the source is to compare the Crucible with

modern day Indian witch hunts.

Yes the source was helpful to me. The article helps me make the connection with

the Crucible and the witch hunts.

Tiwari, Binita. "Dark Side of India: Witchcraft and Superstitions." News Track India. N.p., 8

Apr. 2008. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.

Tiwari’s article, unlike the others, is brief and concise. It starts off by listing the

names of four women and telling how their stories are similar. It explores the harsh acts

taken by angry mobs against the falsely accused. Tiwari tells that witchcraft is most

prevalent among communities where education is only dreamt of. In her closing, Tiwari

states that people should take an action in order to cease wrong witch hunting.

This is somewhat useful, but not definitely. It does reiterate what has already been

stated in previous articles. I do believe the information is reliable and objective, because

the author seems to know of stories about women falsely accused.

This source was not too helpful, because I could tell what the article was going to

end up saying before I was done reading it. Once again, it can be used to support details.

However, I doubt that I can pull too many things from the article because I have so many

other supporting details from my other articles.

Whatley, Stuart. "Uganda Child Sacrifices To Become A Capital Offense." The Huffington Post.

TheHuffingtonPost.com, 17 July 2009. Web. 19 Jan. 2014.

This article tells about Uganda’s efforts on passing a bill that makes it a capital

offence. In Uganda the number for child sacrifice rose almost 40 percent between 2006

and 2008 and law enforcement officials say it’s too hard to catch the perps because they

are never caught in the act. The acts are usually done by the villages’ traditional healer

and herbalist because there is no institutionalized framework to govern the traditional

healers and herbalists. Since no law regulates their activities there have been many

incidents of both adult and child sacrifice under the guise of traditional healers and

herbalists. Uganda’s parliament condones this behavior and is seeking is also seeking to

pass laws to regulate these traditional healers and herbalists.

This article is a reliable credible source with informative facts and statistics. The

article is not biased it just simple states the issues that Uganda is trying to resolve. The

source is specific to the sacrifices in Uganda not the rest of Africa’s child sacrifices or

sacrifices in general.

The source is scholarly and popular because it is from a credible and popular

database. The numbers and statistics will give us an idea on the escalation of the

sacrifices that will be help to our project.

Win, Hanna Ingber. "Gambia Rounds Up 1,000 'Witches': Rights Group." The Huffington Post.

TheHuffingtonPost.com, 18 Mar. 2009. Web. 19 Jan. 2014.

This article is about Gambian President, Yahya Jammeh, who seized power in a

1994 coup. He has rounded up about 1,000 people and forced them to drink

hallucinogens in a witch-hunting campaign. He strongly believes in witch-craft and

believes it is a witch that killed his aunt. He is very delusional and believes he can cure

AIDS and terrorizes the Gambian people. He goes on large-scale witch hunts by isolating

villages and basically has them o lock down while he gives them “dirty water”. The water

makes the people hallucinate and many are beaten and terrorized until they confess to

witch-craft. The terrorized people are also separated and send to different places to be

tortured and since no one can say anything or do anything to stop it he continues to

terrorize the Gambian people.

Halifa Sallah, who has written about the "witch doctors" for the main opposition

newspaper, Foroyya. Sallah, who was a presidential candidate in 2006, has since been

charged with sedition and spying according to the amnesty. The article was a credible

source it was not biased put it did make me very angry toward the president of Gambia.

The author is the amnesty so it was fairly scholarly and popular because it was on

a popular credible source. I thought it was very informative on the issue put it might not

really fit in the project because it might make the topic wider than it needs to be

"Witch Hunting in Africa | Paranormal Haze." Paranormal Haze. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2014.

This article continues to shed light on the real reasons that drive modern day

witch hunts. The article shows that greed and easily manipulated parents tend to be the

major force fueling modern day witch hunts. It highlights the proliferation of modern

day profits that are becoming rich by declaring innocent children as witches.

This article supports one of the other articles cited. It goes further in exposing the

weak minds and evil hearts that lead to modern day witch hunts. This information is less

reliable than information found on some of the other sites in that it is based on third party

witnesses and the attempted cover-ups by the false profits.

This source fits into the research by helping to flesh out the exposition of the

falsehood of most modern day witch hunts. It helps to shape argument by allowing me to

continue to present evidence that supports most modern day witch hunts are fueled,

pursued, and shaped by false prophets and greedy relatives seeking an early inheritance

or a quick dollar.

"Witch-hunting capitalism in Africa » The Spectator." The Spectator. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Jan.

2014. <http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9040991/witch-hunting-with-academics/>.

Exact figures are hard to come by, but Federici believes witch-hunts claimed as

many as 23,000 African lives in the decade ending in 2001, and that the pace of the

killing has since accelerated. Now she wants to crucify those responsible — ‘African

governments who do not intervene to prevent the killings’, Professor Federici sees

free markets and white males as the villains of this particular piece.

This article is very subjective, and is not useful, unlike my other sources which are

objective and very credible. The information is not reliable because it is subjective. The

goal of this aricl is convince every reader to confine themselves to one opinion.

This source will not be used in research. It does not fit into any of our resources. It

has changed how I think about my topic, by making sure I assess my sources to find out

whether they are biased or objective.

"The Witch-hunts… African Sorcerers." The Witch-hunts… African Sorcerers. N.p., n.d. Web.

20 Jan. 2014.

This source gives background on witch-craft all over the world as well as details

of witch-craft in Africa. The source talks about what types of environments are most

likely to have these beliefs. It also has a chronological history of witch-hunts in Africa.

The source also has specific events and incidents of witch-hunts. The source also

has inside stories of outcast as well as fears of African people.

This source was the most informative and the most useful in the points we want to

go over. The source was neither biased nor objective. I feel it is very credible even

though it does not cite its sources.

"Witch Hunts In Africa." Witch Hunts In Africa. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Jan. 2014.

This article is about the vicious cycles of brutal persecution, rape and ritual

killings occur in South Africa, Cameroon, Kenya and other countries. Large numbers of

people in these countries believe witches are easily recognized as evil women who hurt

their fellow human beings by the use of crafty deviltry. Many people just accuse others or

insecurity or for revenge. In Africa the witches fly at night, eat children and are in league

with the powers of evil.

They transform themselves into animals, and they frequently gather in organized

company with other witches. They also can conjure storms and wreak havoc on crops.

Illnesses and accidents are often blamed on older witches of a neighbourhood. Evil is

believed to be transmitted by dreams. The fear of evil individuals can easily result in

witch phobia. They are burned at the stake for fear that they will cast out evil magic

cursing the people. The source was very interesting but I didn’t think it really gave much

details or credible examples.

I don’t think the article was biased or objective either. It just mainly gave a

general feel for why the people are so scared of witches. I don’t think specific examples

will be used in the project but it will give us an idea on their point of view towards

witches.