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Witchcraft in Statecraft: Five Technologies of Power in Colonial and Postcolonial Coastal Kenya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Diane Ciekawy
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Abstract:

This work focuses on the production of discourse on witchcraft in relation to colonial and postcolonial statecraft in coastal Kenya. It distinguishes between two sets of terms for magical harm, the Mijikenda term utsai and the term witchcraft, and uses this analytical distinction to draw attention to the different worlds from which utsai and witchcraft emerge, and to frame each discourse on magical harm in terms of the political conditions of its production and use. It presents “witchcraft” as a disciplinary technology with five component practices identified as “witchcraft technologies of power.” These technologies have wide general applicability to other colonial and postcolonial situations in Africa and can be used to illuminate both processes of state formation and the emergence of new forms of magic and the occult.

Résumé:

Résumé:

Ce travail examine la production des propos sur la sorcellerie relative aux politiques coloniale et post-coloniale au Kenya côtier. Ces propos distinguent deux séries de termes pour désigner les maux dûs à la magie: le terme mijikjenda “utsai” et le terme “witchcraft” (sorcellerie), et utilisent cette distinction d'analyse pour attirer l'attention sur les mondes différents d'où sont issus utsai et witchcraft, et pour construire chaque propos sur les maux dûs à la magie dans le cadre des conditions politiques de sa production et de son utilisation. Ils présentent la sorcellerie (“witchcraft”) comme une technologie disciplinaire composée de cinq pratiques identifiées comme technologies de pouvoir sorcières. Ces technologies sont applicables à grande échelle à d'autres situations coloniales et post-coloniales en Afrique et elles peuvent être utilisées pour éclairer à la fois les processus de formation des états et l'émergence de nouvelles formes de magie et d'occultisme.

Type
Articles
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 41 , Issue 3 , December 1998 , pp. 119 - 141
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1998

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