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Review: Witchcraft, Power and Politics by Isak Niehaus

I come from a Christian background where spiritual warfare is an important, yet widely misunderstood, aspect of religious practice. Within this practice such things as Satanism, witchcraft, discerning of spirits, exorcising of demons are elements of which one need to have knowledge in order to wage spiritual warfare. When I were much younger, still in high school, I used to have a healthy interest in these elements (one of my favorite books were one on how to recognize Satanism by a detective Kobus Jonker) and at times practiced spiritual warfare both on my own and with some friends. In the mean time much of my ideas around the subject changed as I learned and understood more.

What I thought of as 'witchcraft' were a very childish view which could basically be summarized in the idea that any supernatural 'power' which did not conform to the conservative Christian idea of or from God and the Holy Spirit; had, by default, have to be evil. I did not, as yet, made comparisons between African witchcraft and that of the Europeans (including many whites in South Africa). It took me a while to understand that not everything which are different from my, or the group to which I used to belong, ideas are necessarily evil.

With this background information in mind I now turn to the book written by an anthropologist, Isak Niehaus. First of all, the book is actually an academic study and thus those who are not academically orientated or have an express interest in the subject, might find it a very hard and difficult read. Then, the title might also be a bit misleading as the book does not focus on three separate subjects. The main focus of the book is on witchcraft and the power this give to some, both for and against, as well as the influence of pre- as well as post-Apartheid politics on the development of witchcraft within the South African mindset.

The fact that Europeans and other whites also practiced witchcraft, both historically as well as contemporarily, are not mentioned. It is not easy to see the reason for this. It is possible that the author might not believe that whites will take witchcraft as serious as Africans (despite many superstitions in folklore) or perhaps it were just not relevant to the study. If I knew the author I might have suggested that he follow up with a study of witchcraft within the white communities of South Africa. Whatever the case may be, the study focus were specifically on the Northern Sotho within the Northern Province. One side bonus of the book is that there are a lot of information on African culture between 1960 and 1995.

The author suggests that, before the advent of Christianity in South Africa, witchcraft were seen as mainly positive. It was a tool important for the maintenance of structure as well as for the insurance of crops and rain. Christianity brought duality - an idea that there is not only good but also evil - and with that an emphasis on the evil side and an insistence that all witches are evil. Instead of helping it brought fear to the minds of the people.

Satanism is the only suggestion of witchcraft with white people and it is not certain that the author himself believed in the possibility of witchcraft (or that he is aware of Wicca for instance) as he, time and again, points to things that are seen as witchcraft by the African communities but were scoffed at by white communities. In this regard, things such as death by poisoning immediately suggests witchcraft. Accordingly he could also not, to his academic satisfaction, find any evidence that anyone deliberately practiced witchcraft apart from those recognized as 'good' by the chiefs and tolerated for rainmaking. Due to forced removals under the Apartheid government the good magic disappeared with time. One of the biggest problems, even today I believe, is that the younger generations end up with unique problems far from the wisdom and advise of their elders; even if they listened to the elders there were little to no understanding between the generations.

As witches, mostly female but also some male, were mainly evil the biggest accusations of witchcraft came from jealous or insulted family members or neighbors. Apparently, when these so-called witches operated they did so invisibly, just like spirits and the ancestors, and thus the believe in witchcraft are justified by unexplainable circumstances. From the African viewpoint, especially before the 1994 elections, whites were rarely accused of witchcraft as it was believed that whites do not envy blacks (in fact many blacks do not believe that whites also have witches or that they have superstitions). Some also believe that it is possible for witches to do witchcraft without being aware that they do it. If this is so, I personally theorize that the idea came from the fact the negative emotions such as envy, jealousy and anger played such huge roles in witchcraft accusations.

Many of the chiefs accepted money from the 'evil' witches or their family members and fraud were thus seen as "healing in return for money". Apartheid broke down the power that the chiefs had and it is believed that as long as the chiefs had their power witches were kept under control. Because the Apartheid government downplayed the believe in witchcraft, witches were protected by law. What this mean is that on the one hand there were the white Christianity with their conflicting believes in witchcraft and on the other hand there were the white government; between these religious and political powers Africans were forced to revise their ideas of witchcraft. The Christian duality mentioned earlier brought, as said already, fear and thus the willingness to kill witches. Government, not fully believing in witchcraft, saw this as plain murder. Caught in between Africans therefore thought that government were protecting the witches more than the common man.

Another influence from Christianity were the sprouting of numerous African Initiated Churches (AIC). Some of these are very large and well-known today such as the Zion Christian Church (ZCC) or the iBandla lamaNazaretha (Shembes). Many of these churches syncretized Christian and African Traditional aspects one of which is the believe in witchcraft much more emphasized than in mainstream white churches. In the AIC's witchcraft are seen as exclusively evil and there are many rituals in order to expose witches and exorcise their powers. One interesting fact were that some, such as the St John's and the Old Apostolic Churches, do not exorcise demons but reconcile them with God. Many ritualistic objects within the AIC's are used for spiritual warfare against the witches. The uniforms of many of these churches are a good example as it expresses the spiritual power of their wearers. For instance, in some churches white clothing symbolizes purity while blue and green symbolizes water, freshness and growth. The ZCC, with their military uniforms and white boots believe that they can stamp on evil and yellow headscarves symbolizes the sun, light and life.

It is not the easiest book to read and, especially now more than 20 years after Apartheid, it brings more questions. What are the differences in believing in witchcraft between older and younger Africans today? Are there connections between Paganism (from the point of view of whites) and African Traditional Religions (from the point of view of blacks)? With these questions in mind, it is still more dangerous for blacks to practice witchcraft in South Africa (if in fact there are any who actually and knowingly want to practice it) than for whites who already went through these dangers hundreds of years ago. White witches might face discrimination today but black witches might face murder. Another question in my mind is how to address the duality aspect? Wicca, for instance, expect of its members to practice only good or white magic, but there is magic known as 'black' magic (nothing to do with race here) which is seen as evil. Is there even a possibility today for good witches in the black community?

After I read the book I believe I have a much better understanding of the African mindset when it come to both witchcraft and other spiritual matters. I suggest the book for the younger generation of Africans in order to understand the historical impact of Christianity and Apartheid on their tradition. This might lead them to listen more carefully to the wisdom of the elders. I also suggest the book to the white Pagan community, perhaps there can be some form of communication between this group and African Traditional Religions.

Comments

  1. This is such an intersting take on this topic. I also think that some topics have been misunderstood or rather altered to suit a certain 'narative' or belief which does not allow for for good, for example through a Christian perspective, to come from more than one source.

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