Oracles, chieftaincies, and witchcraft accusations in south-western Togo

Abstract

Despite the colonial and post-colonial attempts to eradicate the use of oracles from local practices of conflict resolution, in south-western Togo oracles' verdicts still are widely used by chieftaincies as an instrument to deal with witchcraft accusations. Via the analysis of the role that oracles have in the trials held by local chieftaincies, this article explores how oracles' verdicts, despite being relevant for witchcraft accusations, are not uncritically taken as proofs, but are renegotiated and "domesticated" by the people involved in the trials. Taking into account witchcraft accusations, chieftaincies were able to preserve and reinforce their social and political role, skilfully moving between different legal orders and emerging as the main institution that solves conflicts in a context permeated by legal pluralism.

The Regulation of Witchcraft and Sorcery Practices and Beliefs

“…It appears that, like with much else in this review, much depends upon the particular context. Further, consideration of the role of local courts and justice mechanisms and the relationship between them and state authorities raises broader questions of legal pluralism than can be adequately addressed here (see Gardini 2013, Ludsin 2003.…”

“…Sorcery accusations are also often said to mask underlying conflicts, particularly disputes over land and other property (Gardini 2013, McDonnell 2015, Mgbako & Glenn 2011, as well as problematic social relations, political rivalry, jealousy, and economic inequality (Kgatla et al 2003). PLD (2014, p. 31) found in their study of witch hunting in India that in two-thirds of the cases studied it was possible to identify factors that could be seen to form a material basis for a conflict between the perpetrator and the victim, and more often between the families of the two.…”

“…There are thousands of cases of people accused of sorcery each year globally, often with fatal consequences (OHCHR 2009). Moreover, a common trend in the literature is assertions that these numbers are increasing, the cases becoming more violent, the practices spreading, and new classes of victims being created (Adinkrah 2004, Bussien et al 2011, Cohan 2011, Gardini 2013, Geschiere 2008, Horowitz 2014, Jorgensen 2014, although the difficulty in proving such claims quantitatively is acknowledged. These practices are also increasingly (once again) becoming a challenge for countries in the global North, mainly within migrant communities (Edwards 2013, Garcia 2013, Powles & Deakin 2012, The Economist 2015.…”

Where does fortune come from? Agrarian work ethics and luck in Togo

“…In Togo, as in many other African contexts (see for example, Ardener 1996;Bond and Ciekawy 2001;Comaroff 1999, 2001;Geschiere 1995Geschiere , 1997Moore and Sanders 2001), witchcraft is one of the main causes that people evoke to explain individual and collective misfortunes (Ellis 1993;Gardini 2013;Piot 1999). Potentially, every kind of conflict along the axes of gender, generation, origin and class (from land disputes to contested inheritances, from adultery to political confrontations) could generate a witchcraft accusation, particularly if one of the contenders (or one of his/her family members) dies for unexpected reasons or is affected by misfortunes, madness or sudden and incurable diseases.…”