The Azande of southern Sudan (along with other cultures in Central and West Africa) believe that mangu, or witchcraft, is a physical substance found in the bodies of witches. It is inherited by children from their parents, but only those of the same gender. In other words, all the sons of a male witch will be witches, while the daughters will not. Similarly, all the daughters of a female witch will be witches, while the sons will not. While this would logically indicate that all members of a family are witches, the Azande don’t see it that way. Witchcraft is not seen as a permanent part of identity, but more situation-specific. It is also often unintentional. Many times, a witch will be completely unaware that he or she is doing harm; it is simply unconscious. Any misfortune may be due to witchcraft, unless it is clearly the person’s fault through immoral behavior (i.e. they stole, lied, committed adultery, etc.). If someone falls unexpectedly ill, it may be witchcraft. If someone experiences an unfortunate “accident,” it may be witchcraft. If someone dies, it may be witchcraft. Essentially, witchcraft explains unfortunate events and disrupted social relations.
Traditional African Religion frames religion within a dialectic involving witchcraft, divination, and sacrifice. When witchcraft is suspected, a diviner is generally sought out by the afflicted individual or family members. The diviner will then determine which witch is causing the misfortune. The afflicted is expected to bring forth a list of names of people that he suspects may be the witches. (Obviously, these are people with whom he already has disharmonious relationships.) Then, a number of oracles are performed to determine who the witch might be.
Benge, the poison oracle, is expensive but considered the most reliable. A supposition is then made. Poison will be administered to a chicken; if the chicken dies, so-and-so is the witch, if the chicken lives, so-and-so is not the witch. This ritual sacrifice must be repeated twice, and opposing answers (one dead chicken, one live chicken) must be received for the oracle to be trustworthy. Once the witch has been determined, a formal apology ceremony must take place. In this way, witchcraft acts as “a system of values that regulates human conduct” (Pritchard 18). People that were already on bad terms are required to make up, dispense with any grudges, and move on with their lives.
It must be noted that the Azande do not say only witchcraft causes something. They completely accept natural events and causation, but then they would ask what caused these? Western science answers how something happened, but not why. Azande religion supplies the answer to this elusive why with witchcraft. Witchcraft is umbaga, or the “second spear.” When an animal is killed for food, the meat is divided between two people – the man who first speared the animal and the umbaga, the man who put the second spear through the animal. Both killed the animal, but the umbaga is the final and ultimate cause. This concept transfers over to social relations as well, and the Azande are thus able to find ultimate causes for natural occurrences. Through the concept of witchcraft as “the second spear,” the Azande are able to link two seemingly unconnected occurrences.
For example, in his book Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic Among the Azande, E.E. Evans-Pritchard gives the example of an old granary collapsing. This simply happens from time to time. It is a common occurrence because termites eat the beams and, besides, all wood eventually decays. Oftentimes, people sit beneath the granary on leisurely summer days, to escape the heat, play games, and chat. Sometimes, a granary will collapse while people are under it and are consequently injured. “Now why should these particular people have been sitting under this particular granary at this particular moment when it collapsed?”(22). The easy explanation is that the support beams were eaten by termites. That is the simple cause, and the effect is the collapse of the granary. The people were sitting under there because it was hot. “To our minds the only relationship between these two independently caused facts is their coincidence in space and time. We have no explanation of why the two chains of causation intersected at a certain time and in a certain place, for there is no interdependence between them. Zande philosophy can supply the missing link”(23). Where we say chance or coincidence, the Zande say witchcraft. Their theory is not opposed to scientific, empirical causation – it simply goes beyond that. They link all events to causes in the social world, not just the natural world. In this way, witchcraft is not only a system of explanation but a method for restoring social harmony.
In contemporary times, accusations of witchcraft can be seen as a response to growing urbanization. When people leave their home village to go to the big city and make money, there is tremendous jealousy among the townspeople. They accuse urbanites of attaining success through the use of witchcraft and demand compensation (Geschiere 70). While this situation has radically different dynamics than those of an enclosed traditional village, the objective remains the same. The purpose of witchcraft remains to eradicate social inequality and restore balance and harmonious relations.
Evans-Pritchard, E.E. Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic Among the Azande. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976.
Geschiere, Peter and Francis Nyamnjoh. Witchcraft as an Issue in the ‘Politics of Belonging’: Democratization and Urban Migrants’ Involvement with the Home Village.” African Studies Review, Vol. 41, No. 3 (Dec., 1998), pp. 69-91.
