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Domesticating personal violence: witchcraft, courts and confessions in Cameroon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

Peter Geschiere  and
Cyprian Fisiy
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Extract

In many parts of Africa, discourses on witchcraft and sorcery seem to follow a mod-ernisation process of their own. There are striking regional variations in the ways in which these discourses are articulated with State formation and the emergence of new modes of accumulation. A common denominator remains, however, the close connection between witchcraft and aggression from within the ‘house’. In many respects, witchcraft is still the dark side of kinship, even in modern settings.

It is against this background that this article explores the implications of a new type of witchcraft trial in the Eastern Province of Cameroon. Since 1980 State courts have started to convict ‘witches’ mainly on the basis of the expertise of the witch-doctors. This seems to be accompanied by the emergence of a ‘modern’ type of witch-doctor, more intent on punishing than on healing, who try to recruit their clients in very aggressive ways. In other parts of Cameroon the articulation of local witchcraft beliefs and State authority seems to follow different trajectories.

Résumé

Dans beaucoup de parties de l'Afrique les discours sur la magie et la sorcellerie semblent suivre un processus de modernisation en eux-mêmes. II y a des variations régionales frappantes dans la maniere dont ces discours sont articulés avec la formation de l'état et l'émergence de nouveaux modes d'accumulation. Un dénominateur commun demeure cependant, la connexion rapprochée entre la sorcellerie et l'agressivité à l'intérieur de la ‘maison’. A bien des égards la sorcellerie se trouve toujours sur le côté sombre de la parenté même dans les milieux modernes.

C'est dans ce contexte que cet article explore les implications d'un nouveau type de jugements de sorcellerie dans la province de l'est du Cameroun. Depuis 1980 les tribunaux de l'état ont commencé à emprisonner les ‘sorcières’ principalement sur l a base de l'expertise des sorciers guérisseurs. Ceci semble être accompagné par l'apparition d'un type de sorcier guérisseur moderne plus enclin à punir qu'à guèrir, qui essaie de recruiter leurs clients de manière agressive. Dans d'autres parties du Cameroun l'articulation de croyances locales en la sorcellerie et l'autorité de l'etat semble suivre des trajectoires differentes.

Type
Grave charges
Information
Africa , Volume 64 , Issue 3 , July 1994 , pp. 323 - 341
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1994

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