Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic Among the Azande

Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic Among the Azande

by Evans Pritchard

Conclusion

- Pritchard was evolutionary to the way that fieldwork would be conducted

- Changed the understanding of “different” as being a binary opposition to his own worldview and experience

- Raised questions about what could be considered rational thinking in any culture

-His student Andre Singer has continued work on the Azande, created a film which is a reanalysis of Pritchard's original fieldwork

Jamie, Yvonne, Emily, Cheryl, & Kate

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People Today

- As the research happened nearly 90 years ago much has changed in how the people live

- Most people have converted to Christianity but still turn to witch craft when the church can't provide answers

- There have been many changes in demographics and location due to civil war

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Oracles

- Used to find the source of the witchcraft

-Provided answers to other suspicions involving witchcraft

- Rubbing board oracle (still used today) is consulted to find out who is causing the misfortune and what can be done about it

- Poison oracle feeds poison to little chickens to see if they die or not

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Witchcraft

Magic

- Witchcraft is a substance found in the body attached to the liver

- Not a physical trait but is inherited

- Witches do harm by psychic acts

- Used to describe why a certain thing took place at a certain time

Outline

- Used to guard against witchcraft and destroy it

- Witchdoctor locates and protects against witchcraft

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Azande

• About the Author
• Words to Know
• Ethnography Summary
• Problems Encountered
• People Studied
• Map
• Witchcraft
• Situational Analysis
• Oracles
• Magic
• People today
• Conclusion

- First African people to be studied by a trained anthropologist

- Traditionally believed in magic, witchcraft and traditional medicines

Situational Analysis

- People of lots of land and great warriors

The supports of the granary collapsed when there was a person sitting under it. The Azande understand that it collapsed because of the termites weakening the supports, but the reason it collapsed on a certain person at a certain time is attributed to witchcraft

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It took Pritchard 7 weeks to get to Zande land

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Ethnography Summary

-Evans Pritchard studies the Azande people beliefs and ideas of witchcraft through the method of cultural immersion and active participation

-He desired to gain a deeper understanding of seemingly "odd" behaviors

Evans Pritchard (1902-1973)

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Problems Encountered

- Zande land was a British colony and the people had already been exposed to Christianity

-Got his start at the British Public School and eventually attended Oxford University

- The men representing the colonial or missionary interests were hard to deal with and were not very sensitive to native culture

- Pritchard was also unsure weather to use native terms for things or to avoid them

- Azande beliefs had many contradictions

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-Changed the way fieldwork was conducted by immersing himself in a culture in active observance

Words to Know

-Appointed lecturer at London School of Economics and made the professor of social anthropology at the Fuad I

-Witchcraft(Mangu): similar to our understanding of luck

-Good Magic: used to appose witchcraft and sorcery

-Sorcery/Bad Magic: breaks moral and legal rules, uses medicine as a weapon

-Medicine: used by both good magic and sorcery, involves magical rites using objects fashioned from trees and plants

-Oracles: consulted in order to find out the source of the witchcraft

University in Cairo

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