imagining evil- witchcraft beliefs and accusations in contemporary africa by gerrie ter haar -...
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Imagining Evil- Witchcraft Beliefs and Accusations in Contemporary Africa by Gerrie ter Haar - ReviewTRANSCRIPT
Imagining Evil: Witchcraft Beliefs and Accusations in Contemporary Africa by Gerrie terHaarReview by: Jean La FontaineAfrican Studies Review, Vol. 51, No. 1 (Apr., 2008), pp. 137-138Published by: African Studies AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27667298 .Accessed: 18/01/2012 14:56
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Book Reviews 137
Gerrie ter Haar, ed. Imagining Evil: Witchcraft Beliefs and Accusations in Con
temporary Africa. Trenton N.J.: Africa World Press, 2007. Religion in Contemporary Africa series, vi + 348 pp. Tables. Figures. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $29.95. Paper.
In the course of her comprehensive introduction, Gerrie ter Haar empha
sizes that the majority of the contributors to the book are Africans. Her as
sertion that they know more of witchcraft since they have "lived experience"
of it is debatable. These African contributors are also teachers of religious studies and theology, and most of their contributions clearly reflect this.
The most valuable articles in this collection are based not on experience but on research using the methods of social science.
The bulk of the book consists of descriptions, varying in quality, of
witchcraft from various parts of Africa. It is startling that so few contributors
are concerned with the major changes witchcraft beliefs have undergone, even in the last decades; they write almost as if present-day beliefs were
merely survivals from the past. Stephen Nyoka Nyaga's account (Tanzania) stands out for its meticulous field research and its recognition of the in
terplay of past and present. He is also the only one to consider another
religion spreading in Africa, Islam, thus shedding some comparative light on the problem.
Stephen Ellis aims to describe the influence of stories of the European witch hunts on historians and anthropologists, but his chapter is hampered
by his incomplete knowledge of social anthropology and its contributions
to more recent historical understanding of the witch hunts. The editor's ar
ticle, "Ghanaian Witchcraft Beliefs: A View from the Netherlands," also dis
appoints, but for a different reason: it focuses on one pastor, his views and
career rather than on Ghanaian beliefs in the diaspora, as the title seems
to promise. Some suggestions for dealing with the problem represented
by witchcraft accusations (it is not beliefs in witchcraft but actions taken
against alleged witches that cause suffering,
a distinction that deserves
greater emphasis) are mooted. An interesting and rare instance in which
such ideas have actually been tried out, in Zambia, is described by Hugo Hinfelaar, a Catholic missionary. While few of these contributions consider
the extremes to which retribution against supposed witches has been taken
recently, they are concerned with solving problems,
a difference marking
this book out from others in the field.
The most interesting?and controversial?article is the last in the book,
in which Walter van Beek argues that anthropologists have been prevented
by their relativist stance from investigating or
understanding an
important
aspect of the subject of witchcraft. Intra- and intersociety variability in the
consequences to those accused of witchcraft has been described but not ex
plained. Understanding why violence does or does not ensue is essential if
its modern manifestations are to be halted, but the failure to analyze if, how,
and why a
suspicion may be transmuted into action and what sort of action
may result is also an analytical flaw. It prevents
not only the development
138 African Studies Review
of counteractive measures but also full understanding of the phenomenon.
His tilt at relativism will provoke debate, but his chapter does demonstrate
significant gaps in our knowledge. The second part of van Beek's article is devoted to demonstrating a
comparative method that recalls Mead or Benedict. "Six variables" which
"seem to form a logical chain... of
increasing witchcraft violence" (303) are used to compare seven cultures, including historical Europe. This focus
on the differences among societies rather than within them and on what
encourages violence rather than what inhibits it is less practically oriented than it might have been. But van Beek nonetheless suggests a new field for research and one that might provide
some solutions to the problems raised,
as well as analytical insights.
All in all, this is a mixed bag but not without interest for students of witchcraft in contemporary Africa.
Jean La Fontaine
London School of Economics
London, U.K.