Child witch hunts in contemporary Ghana

Adinkrah, Mensah

doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2011.05.011

Cited by 40 publications

(86 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…In a yet another study, 92% of childhood burns reportedly occurred at home, particularly in the kitchen and in the house yard (Forjuoh, Guyer, & Smith, ). Relatedly, Adinkrah () reported widespread physical brutality, torture, neglect and, in most extreme situations, murder of children accused of witchcraft. Interestingly, these abusive practices occurred within the family context.…”

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confidence: 99%

Demographic factors, childhood maltreatment and psychological functioning among university students' in Ghana: A retrospective study

et al. 2015

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This study retrospectively investigates the influence of child (i.e., gender), care-giver (e.g., who grew up with), household size (i.e., number of siblings grew up with) and community (i.e., rural versus urban) factors on childhood maltreatment, as well as the impacts of maltreatment on psychological functioning. A cross-sectional survey and self-report methodology is used to gather data from 300 students of the University of Ghana. The results show that being a male, growing up in rural areas, living with more than 3 siblings in the same household and being raised by both biological parents have significant main effects on childhood maltreatment. Analyses of the interaction effects show that living with more than 5 siblings in a rural household with "other" parents (i.e., non-biological parents) has a significant effect on physical abuse. Furthermore, males from rural households consisting of more than 3 siblings and who did not grow up with both biological parents endorsed significantly more physical abuse and physical neglect, compared with the females. With respect to the psychological outcome, childhood maltreatment significantly predicts and account for significant variance in depression (34%), self-efficacy (18%) and life satisfaction (22%). The findings and the implications of the study are briefly discussed.

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confidence: 99%

Demographic factors, childhood maltreatment and psychological functioning among university students' in Ghana: A retrospective study

et al. 2015

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“…While, in both societies, people believe that there are beneficent or benign witches, there is a general consensus in both societies that most witches and wizards are generally maleficent or destructive and use their supernatural powers to cause pain, terror, death and other forms of afflictions and misfortunes upon their victims. Examples of the pain and suffering that alleged witches are believed to be capable of inflicting on human victims as individuals and communities include diseases and illnesses, drought, epidemics, earthquakes, crop damage and premature death (ActionAid, 2012;Adinkrah, 2004Adinkrah, , 2008Adinkrah, , 2011Debrunner, 1978;Paudel, 2011;Shrestha, 2012;Sah, 2007;Sosywen, n.d.).…”

Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Ghana, there is a general belief that maleficent bewitchment stems from envy, jealousy and vengefulness (Adinkrah, 2004(Adinkrah, , 2008(Adinkrah, , 2011Debrunner, 1978;Bannerman-Richter, 1982). Alleged maleficent witches are believed to use their witchcraft power to bewitch people for whom they harbor feelings of envy and jealousy.…”

Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other countries noted for violent witch-hunts against alleged witches include India, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda (Behringer, 2004;Global Health Promotion, 2012). In response to the media reports concerning witch-hunts, a number of single-country analyses of the phenomenon have been conducted (Adinkrah, 2004(Adinkrah, , 2008(Adinkrah, , 2011INSEC, 2012). There have been few comparative analyses of violent witch-hunts against alleged witches.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Gendered injustice: A comparative analysis of witchcraft beliefs and witchcraft-related violence in Ghana and Nepal

Adinkrah¹,

Adhikari²

2014

Int. J. Sociol. Anthropol.

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Witch-hunt is an often overlooked but major social problem in many of the societies in the Global South. Ghana and Nepal represent two such societies where modern-day witch-hunt is frequently reported. This study examines the similarities and differences in witchcraft beliefs and practices in Ghana and Nepal as well as the perpetration of aggressive acts against putative witches in these two societies. Among the issues explored are superstition, witchcraft beliefs, socio-demographic characteristics of victims and perpetrators of witch-hunts, as well as the socio-cultural contexts within which witch-hunts occur.

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“…What distinguishes witchcraft from other spiritual forces is its association with 'black' magic -witchcraft is mobilised to harm others for selfish purposes (Kohnert, 1996), accounting for disease, misfortune, HIV/AIDS, political success, fertility and economic productivity (Mombeshora, 1994;Smith, 2005). Such understandings are widespread: in Ghana it is estimated that 90% believe in witchcraft (Adinkrah, 2011), and evidence from Kenya (Luongo, 2010), Malawi (Englund, 2007) South Africa (Peltzer, 2003) and Tanzania (Mesaki, 2009) suggests equal prevalence.…”

Section: Witchcraft and Rationalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Witchcraft, spiritual worldviews and environmental management: Rationality and assemblage

Smith

2016

Environ Plan A

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This article interrogates the interrelationship between witchcraft, spiritual worldviews and environmental management. Drawing on diverse literatures from anthropology, conservation science and geography, this article explores how witchcraft and spiritual worldviews have been rationalised in order to explain their continued significance, for society as a whole and for the conservation of natural resources and biodiversity specifically. Using an assemblage framework, this article examines how the agencies of spirits and witches are entangled with other social and material entities, drawing on examples from three communities in Tanzania. It argues that thinking through assemblage allows the agentic capacities of spirits and witchcraft to be recognised, whilst also acknowledging their inseparability from other expressive and material components of assemblages, including social organisation and more-than-human actors. Finally, this article turns to evidence for the deterritorialisation, or breaking apart, of these assemblages around spiritual worldviews and witchcraft, and considers their future role in local conservation.

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Child witch hunts in contemporary Ghana

Cited by 40 publications

References 7 publications

Demographic factors, childhood maltreatment and psychological functioning among university students' in Ghana: A retrospective study

Demographic factors, childhood maltreatment and psychological functioning among university students' in Ghana: A retrospective study

Gendered injustice: A comparative analysis of witchcraft beliefs and witchcraft-related violence in Ghana and Nepal

Witchcraft, spiritual worldviews and environmental management: Rationality and assemblage

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