The chapter starts with the main statement ‘Witches, as the Azande conceive them, clearly cannot exist’ (p18)
The author spends nearly the chapter discussing how the idea of witchcraft for the people of the Azande is not as obscure as we are made to believe.
2. Argument
For the people in Azande, witchcraft explains away the things that happen to them that are not in their control. The chapter states that ‘Witchcraft is to Azande an ordinary and not an extraordinary, even though it may be in some circumstances be an infrequent, event.’ (p30) The author explains through the chapter that the Azande only use witchcraft to explain why some events have occurred, for example, a pot maker’s pot breaking and a termite infested building collapsing on people seeking its shade from the sun. These similarities in the Azande belief of witchcraft could be to some extent compared to the western culture beliefs in fate or karma or the belief in supreme beings in the form of Gods. The concept that the Azande have no idea of the natural and supernatural, we can only conclude that the many cultures that exist one cannot fully comprehend what is not natural to them.
The author also discusses the role of witch-doctors within the community. This is because the knowledge and practices of the witch-doctor are secret and only insiders can gain information. He organized for his servant to obtain the information for him and report back to him with the details. However, the witch-doctor was aware of this situation, so he purposely withheld some information. The author was then forced to create a rivalry between the witch doctor and another one in order to obtain the information that was needed. In an effort to display greater knowledge, each of the witch-doctors was forced to reveal their secrets.
Evans-Pritchard also explains how the Azande are often skeptical of witch-doctors, they usually attribute the doctor’s failures due to poor training or bad medicine. He further explains how this combination of doubt and belief suggests a rational understanding of human behavior and how the world operates.
To write up this ethnography the author spent a lot of time in understanding the role of witchcraft to the Azande. In Azande culture, not every failure or misfortune is not attributed to witchcraft. Telling a lie, adultery, stealing, disloyalty and murder of another member are all exceptions. Zande doctrine states that witchcraft does not make people do these bad things. Incompetence, carelessness, ignorance and laziness can all be selected as other causes for certain behavior. Witchcraft to the Azande people has its own set of rules to follow and belief in witchcraft is quite consistent with human responsibility and a rational appreciation of nature.
The author also clearly points out that the Azande do not believe that the misfortunes are due to witchcraft alone. The misfortunes may be due to witchcraft, but this only explains why bad or harmful events occur to man but not why these events occur. The author states that it is known that in Zandeland the old women sometimes collapse due to termites eating away at its supports and sometimes on hot afternoons people sit underneath them during activities. However, why on a particular day, when a particular person is sitting beneath does the granary collapse. This is the believed to be as a cause of witchcraft.
3. Textual Connection
“Witches, as the Azande conceive them, clearly cannot exist. None the less, the concept of witchcraft provides them with a natural philosophy by which the relations between men and unfortunate events are explained” (page 2).The author introduces us to the concept of who the Azande are and the practice of their belief.
“We must now view witchcraft in a more objective manner, for it is a mode of behaviour as well as a mode of thought” (page 9). The author gives us an idea of why the people of Azande do not retaliate on attacks they view as witchcraft, and when it is possible for them to retaliate. He further states that “Only when the misfortune is death can vengeance or compensation be exacted for injury from witchcraft. In a lesser loss, all that can be done is to expose the witch responsible and to persuade him to withdraw his baneful influence.”(Page 9). This shows how people have little control over those people that they view as witches and how they can take action against them.
‘When a potter's creations break in firing witchcraft is not the only possible cause of the calamity. Inexperience and bad workmanship may also be reasons for failure’, In this passage, we are introduced to other possible explanations on other problems that are blamed on witchcraft that are not necessarily related. The author helps the audience understand that other problems may contribute to unexplained events.
4. Implications.
The author seeks to break down the philosophy of Witchcraft and understands its ‘rationale’. Witchcraft for the Azande is meant to explain the relations between men and misfortunes and regulate how the people behave. The process of throwing away initial prejudices, by learning from the indigenous and growing respect for diversity is the main passion for anthropology. We are clearly shown that the Azande are different. it is easy for us to attribute certain causes to God’s will as in Christianity, just as how easy it is for the Azande to attribute them to witchcraft. Our culture may be different, but we are all very much the same in our search to explain things that are unexplained.
REFERENCES:
Evans-Pritchard, E. E, The notion of witchcraft explains unfortunate events, pp. 63-83.
