Sorcery in Mozambique
Mozambique
History of Mozambique
• Pre colonial
• Colonial
• Post- colonial
Pre- colonial History
• San hunters and gatherers, ancestors of
the Khoisani peoples.
• Between the 1st and 5th centuries AD, waves
of Bantu-speaking peoples migrated from the
north through the Zambezi River valley and
then gradually into the plateau and coastal
areas.
• The Bantu were farmers and ironworkers.
Portugese rule
• When Vasco da Gama, exploring for Portugal,
reached the coast of Mozambique in 1498,
Arab trading settlements had existed along
the coast and outlying islands for several
centuries, and political control of the coast
was in the hands of a string of local sultans.
•
• Colonial rule till 1975
Independence
• Mozambique became independent after ten
years of sporadic warfare in the country
• A leftist military coup in Lisbon on 25 April 1974
• Front for Liberation of Mozambique ( FRELIMO)
took complete control of the territory
• Mozambique became independent from Portugal
on June 25, 1975.
Civil War
• Mozambican Civil War(1977–1992)
• A proxy of cold war
. A socialist democracy but one of the poorest
countries in the world.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa13890720
Harry West: Ethnographic Sorcery
•
Anthropological work based on field work in 1994, 1999 and 2001, among
“Muedans,” as he calls them, mainly rural Makonde living on the Mueda plateau in
post-socialist northern Mozambique. In Ethnographic Sorcery, Harry G. West builds
on his previous work on sorcery among the Makonde of the Mueda plateau
situated in northeastern Mozambique (West 2005).
•
History and politics of post socialist Mozambique to understand the “Modern”
omnipresence of “sorcery.”
•
Witchcraft discourse refers to human agency as the explanation behind many
events.
West asserts that it is the language of sorcery that enables Muedans to
understand, comment on, and transform relations of power.
•
•
A critique
• West does not see sorcery as people’s ways of
understanding more immediate social
manifestations and conflicts (such as
unnatural accumulation or lineage
segmentation)
• Kupilikula renders the invisible visible and so
is a sort of “sorcery of construction” that
reveals “sorcery of ruin.” ex: Sorcerer’s lion
• Everyone is presumed capable of sorcery
Sorcery in Mozambique
• Religion in Africa is best understood as a belief
in an invisible world inhabited by spiritual
forces deemed to have effective power over
the material world. It is precisely this
interaction between two realms of life—the
visible world of human beings, and the
invisible world of spirits—that West grapples
with in this book- Gerrie ter Haar, Institute of
Social Studies, The Hague, The Netherlands
The role of the sorcerer
• In Africa, as in many other parts of the globe, the
spirit world is generally seen as a world of power.
In this perspective, spiritual power is real
power— it can transform people and change
their lives.
• The sorcerer’s capacity to transform themselves
occupies a central place in West’s book.
• In view of the local spiritual world, sorcerers’
“imaginations” connecting the unknown to the
known or the abstract to the concrete by
predicating order onto what was previously
inchoate.
Sorcery in Africa
• In most parts of Africa (and also Europe) witchcraft still refers to special
capacities and acts: getting a “second pair of eyes,” the ability to “leave
one’s body,” to fly, to transform oneself. It is this idea of hidden forms of
agency (to which only some have access) that makes this whole discourse
so frightening.
•
• In Southern Cameroon, Healers must acquire “the second pair of eyes”
which will enable them to “see” in the invisible world. Then they must
acquire the ability to “leave” one’s body (to transform oneself into a ghost,
an animal, or whatever)—a basic act in witchcraft.
• The healer’s primary question before treating a patient will always be “did
you go out?”—for therapy, it is crucial to know whether the client has
engaged in witchcraft or not. And the healer himself will also be supposed
to “go out” in order to combat the witches and “bring back” the patient’s
“soul.”
Explanation of Sorcery
• Society always wants to promote status quo ( for example, do not
rock the boat), for example, America is a conformist society. If you
are perceived as a threat in any way, you are accused, this is one
way of putting one in line.
• One has to know the nature of the society to know who will be
accused and not accused of witchcraft.
• S F Nadel: Witchcraft in 4 different African Societies
•
• Witchcraft in each society is different because of the difference in
social structure. In matrilineal society, women are not accused but
men.
• In patrilineal society like India and China, women get married in
outside villages, they are mostly accused. Widows are also accused
because they are vulnerable. The source of their marital status is
gone so they become suspect.