Witchcraft, Violence, and Democracy in South Africa

Folklore, April, 2006 by Owen Davies

Witchcraft, Violence, and Democracy in South Africa. By Adam Ashforth. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2005. 396 pp. Illus. 16.00 [pounds sterling] (pbk). ISBN 0-226-02974-3

There is certainly no shortage of anthropological and sociological studies of witchcraft in contemporary African societies. This is not surprising considering the potency and pervasiveness of witchcraft accusations in political, religious, social, and economic contexts in the region. Adam Ashforth's work stands out from the crowd due to its distinctive voice and original approach. It is a fascinating study of witchcraft in post-apartheid South Africa, and is based on his own immersion into life in Soweto during the 1990s, as well as a broad range of contextual reading. The result is an engaging study in which personal experience provides an accessible entry into important academic debates.

As a white American academic, Ashford could have assumed the role of outside observer, but his "adoption" by the Mfete family meant that he became part of the witchcraft dramas he describes, including the power and pressure of witchcraft accusations and the influence of healers, prophets, and witch-doctors. Indeed, the awful experience of a close friend, Madumo, who was accused by his younger brother of bewitching to death their mother, was the basis of Ashford's previous book, Madumo, A Man Bewitched published in 2000. At the heart of his current book are the terrible consequences of the AIDS pandemic and the social instability it has caused. He explains how premature deaths nearly always attract gossip about supernatural causation. With everyone in the region knowing a family member, neighbour or colleague who has died from AIDS, Ashford shows how the witchcraft discourse has increased the levels of occult violence and heightened social tensions; more generally, it has led to a pervasive sense of what he calls "spiritual insecurity." Ashford's overarching thesis is the need to understand and deal with this "perplexing problem" of spiritual insecurity and "speculate upon implications for the future of democracy" (p. xv). The problem for the state is how to address popular concern over the activities of witches when witchcraft is not legally recognised as a crime. If they are to retain popular trust, therefore, they most adopt alternative strategies to assuage people's fears and insecurities.

The book is rich in detail and insights, some of which apply not only to contemporary societies but also to historic witch-persecuting societies elsewhere. The discussion on the role of gossip, for example, makes the important point that what is not said about witchcraft is as important as what is. As a historian, I also found particularly illuminating Ashford's discussion of the role of the various Christian Churches in both adding to and attempting to assuage witchcraft-inspired spiritual insecurity. There is much in this thoughtful book of interest to the folklorist, anthropologist, sociologist, and historian, but its findings have important ramifications far beyond the world of academia.

Owen Davies, University of Hertfordshire, UK