Engendered Violence and Witch-killing in Simbu

Introduction to Pentecostal Witchcraft and Spiritual Politics in Africa and Melanesia

“…There are reports that a new form of aggressive opposition is taking hold between church movements and witchcraft, and in the last decade, the issue of witch killing and torture in Melanesia has caught the attention of both the media and anthropologists. Scholars have understood this in relation to increased pressures on land and resources, an absence of state involvement, and increasing violence toward women (Gibbs 2012), as well as rising rates of HIV (Haley 2010). In June 2013, a conference was organized at the Australian National University, titled Sorcery and witchcraft-related killings in Melanesia: Culture, law and human rights perspectives, marking a widespread acknowledgment that new forms of torture and aggression toward witches were generally on the rise in the region (Forsyth and Eves 2015).…”

Modern Őmie Women: Virtual Indigeneity and Intimations of Empowerment

“…Building on the work of the Law Reform Commission in the 1980s (Toft ; Toft and Bonnell ), there has developed a substantial literature focusing on issues of sexuality, HIV/AIDS, changing masculinities, Christianization and commodification in post‐millennial Papua New Guinea as contributing to the perpetuation of violence against women. A recent volume of collected ethnographic reports reveals an instance of extreme brutality on the part of police in the capital city (Stewart ), the torture and murder of, often post‐menopausal, women suspected of being witches in rural areas (Gibbs ), sexism and impunity in the court system concerning female rape cases (Zorn ) and the absolute helplessness of rural women in the face of an abusive husband without the support of kin (Mcpherson ). Most disturbing is the report by Médecins sans Frontières (:7) which declares that in Papua New Guinea women and children ‘endure shockingly high levels of family and sexual violence, with rates of abuse estimated to be some of the highest in the world outside a conflict zone.’ Their research was based on the cases handled by their two remaining Family Support Centres, aimed at providing medical and counselling care to victims .…”

Preying on those close to home: witchcraft violence in a Papua New Guinea Village

“…It has been remarked that perpetrators are often under the influence of intoxicants, and this is certainly true in Telefomin. The Boys' homebrew and marijuana use has already been mentioned, but this plays a special role in the violence, both in identifying targets, and in carrying out attacks (Haley , ; Gibbs : 129–130; United Nations : 9).…”

“…Parents apply this designation to youth, who also apply it to themselves (Eves : 45–46)'. See also Gibbs (: 114). Although the word was part of the vocabulary of Australian officers in the colonial period, it (or a Tokpisin variant, ‘nogat yus blongen’) is a new feature of local talk.…”