Sorcery of Construction and Socialist Modernization: Ways of Understanding Power in Postcolonial Mozambique

Abstract

In this article I examine how rural Mozambicans in the Mueda plateau region experienced the socialist modernization policies of FRELIMO, the anti‐colonial guerrilla movement that eventually took power over the postindependence Mozambican state. In interpreting and engaging with the dramatic transformations brought on by FRELIMO socialism, Muedans often drew on the familiar language of sorcery, notwithstanding FRELIMO attempts to banish sorcery‐related beliefs and practices. While Muedans sometimes resisted the modernization agenda and sometimes embraced it, they could not make systematic instrumental use of sorcery discourse to pursue strategic ends. Rather, sorcery served them more broadly as a social diagnostics of power relations —one that preserved ways of understanding power that are saturated with ambivalence, [power, postcolonial Africa, sorcery, surveillance, guerrilla war, villagization, modernization]

Complexities of conflict: the importance of considering social factors for effectively resolving human–wildlife conflict

“…In Tanzania, spotted hyaenas Crocuta crocuta elicit intense conflict due to beliefs that certain ethnic groups bewitch and 'train' them to kill other peoples' livestock, so tensions over hyaena depredation are heightened by these inter-group suspicions (Dickman, 2008). In Mozambique, there is a belief that people can use sorcery to transform dimika tree twigs into 'spirit-lions', which can then be used to attack the sorcerer's enemies (West, 2001), so lions are commonly killed when they are encountered. An externally enforced villagization process increased social conflict in Mozambique, thereby increasing fears of 'spiritlions', and intensifying human-lion conflict (West, 2001).…”

“…In Mozambique, there is a belief that people can use sorcery to transform dimika tree twigs into 'spirit-lions', which can then be used to attack the sorcerer's enemies (West, 2001), so lions are commonly killed when they are encountered. An externally enforced villagization process increased social conflict in Mozambique, thereby increasing fears of 'spiritlions', and intensifying human-lion conflict (West, 2001). Such perceptions of people bewitching animals or shapeshifting into animal form are found across a broad range of cultures, and involve species as diverse as elephants, chimpanzees Pan troglodytes and bearded pigs Sus barbatus (Knight, 2000b), and in such cases recognizing and easing underlying social tensions is fundamental to effective conflict mitigation.…”

A Very Modern Ghost: Postcolonialism and the Politics of Enchantment

“…Pile, 2005). 1 The list is endless, but for examples in anthropology see Klenk, 2004;Taussig, 1980;Weller, 1994;West, 2001; in sociology/psychology: Gordon, 1997;in feminism: Daly, 1978;Thomas 1991;in cultural history: Marcus, 1999;in geography: Pile, 2005. 4 The scholarly apparatus of metropolitan cultural politics has increasingly turned towards the question of enchantment.…”

From Cheetahs to Chimpanzees: A Comparative Review of the Drivers of Human-Carnivore Conflict and Human-Primate Conflict

“…However, such beliefs do not always have a positive impact -in some areas of East Africa, there is a belief in 'spirit lions', where a lion's body is supposedly hijacked Dickman by evil powers in order to kill rivals or their livestock [West, 2001]. It is apparently very hard to visually distinguish between this kind of 'spirit lion' and a normal 'bush lion', so often any lion that is encountered is killed due to fear of this kind of witchcraft.…”

“…In Mozambique and Tanzania, belief in 'spirit lions' is strongly linked to social tensions -people believe that such lions are created by their enemies, so the perceived number of 'spirit lions' rises substantially during times of intergroup tension, for instance when people from different tribes are forced to live in close proximity with one another [West, 2001;Dickman, 2008]. Similarly, the Sierra Leonean beliefs in bewitched chimpanzees derive from social tensions between young people and powerful elders: people are often suspicious of the motives and power of the elders, and when chimpanzees attack young people, it is easy for communities to assume that such attacks were orchestrated by the chiefs for their own gain [Richards, 2000].…”