Imagining Evil: Witchcraft Beliefs and Accusations in Contemporary Africa (review)

In the course of her comprehensive introduction, Gerrie ter Haar emphasizes that the majority of the contributors to the book are Africans. Her assertion 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 interplay 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 article, “Ghanaian Witchcraft Beliefs: A View from the Netherlands,” also disappoints, 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 explained. 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 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.