Suchergebnisse

A professorial address at the U of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) in 1981 summarizes general & particular notions about witchcraft & sorcery: (1) Witchcraft is ascribed, sorcery achieved; this division assigns witchcraft to Fs, sorcery to Ms, to demonstrate superior M intelligence. (2) Where ancestral spirits are believed to discipline their descendants, the power used is identical to that utilized by witches; elders use this power licitly, witches illicitly. (3) The general assignment of witchlike qualities to women arises from the birth trauma, weaning, various childrearing practices, & womb envy by Ms. (4) There is a universal belief that witches' behavior is opposite from that of the normally socialized person; this belief in the power of reversal may arise from the child's observation that the omnipotent parent can change from affection to anger. (5) By believing in witches & behaving accordingly, people create conditions that will be diagnosed as witchcraft. (6) In Tanzania, the government policy of moving people forcibly into villages inevitably results in increased fears of witchcraft & in witch-finding movements. (7) Fears of witchcraft are a major hindrance to development schemes because of the concept of "limited good." (8) Witch beliefs do not occur in hunting-gathering societies nor in modern industrial societies, but all agricultural societies fear witchcraft. The crucial difference appears to be mobility rather than education. Nomadic-pastoral societies represent an intermediate condition where such beliefs are rarely serious. AA.

Traces the link between human displacement & witchcraft allegations from the forced migration generated by the 17th century Salem Witch Trials to a 2007 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees report detailing witchcraft allegations that were plaguing refugee camps in southern Chad. Issues discussed include the importance of witchcraft allegations as a gender & protection issue in the context of refugee return, the regularity of such allegations, their use as a basis for asylum claims, & ways in which they hinder the protection of displaced persons. Adapted from the source document.

In the light of the current discourse about national belonging in Britain/the UK, the author examines an episode in the 1980s when the same kind of debate was initiated by the Thatcherite Right over the work of the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) and its booklets for young people about the derivation and reality of racism. Accusing the IRR of political indoctrination, falsifying history, denigrating white people and redefining racism, attempts were made in parliament, the media, through a TV programme and a themed book, to ban the educational booklets of IRR, especially its cartoon book (which was blamed for inciting 'the riots' of 1985) and close down the organisation.