Chapter II — The Notion of Witchcraft Explains Unfortunate Events

Ubiquity and Centrality of Witchcraft in Zande Culture

• Witchcraft (mangu) is conceived as ever-present; Azande expect to meet it daily.
• Penetrates every sphere:
  • Agriculture, fishing, hunting
  • Domestic relations (marriage harmony, child-care)
  • District politics, court life
  • Law, morals, etiquette, religion, technology, language
• Functions as a “natural philosophy” that links misfortune to human agency; supplies a predictable, stereotyped response pattern.
• Comparable to how Westerners cite “blight,” “influenza,” or “bad season.”

Witchcraft as an Explanatory Framework for Misfortune

• Default explanation for failure unless:
  • Strong evidence (and oracular confirmation) indicates sorcery or another evil agent; or
  • Clear incompetence, taboo breach, or moral violation explains the event.
• Provides moral tone: transforms random harm into intentional aggression → evokes anger rather than awe.
• Azande distinguish between how things happen (empirical chain) and why they harm a particular person at a particular moment (witchcraft).

Illustrative Ethnographic Cases

• Boy stubs toe on stump → infection festers → attributes to witchcraft because:
  • He was normally vigilant; stump “always there,” yet this time unseen.
  • Wound failed to heal as “cuts normally do.”
• Beer-brewer burns hut roof while checking pots at night → witchcraft blamed for unlucky spark.
• Master wood-carver’s bowl or stool splits despite proper wood & technique → cites jealous neighbours’ witchcraft.
• Expert potter’s vessel cracks during firing despite ideal clay & ritual abstinence → “It is broken—there is witchcraft.”
• Granary collapse illustration:
  • All know termites weaken supports.
  • All know people sit beneath granaries for shade.
  • Witchcraft explains coincidence of weakened structure falling precisely when particular people shelter there.

Zande Theory of Causation (“Second Spear” Metaphor)

• Plurality of causes accepted:
  • \text{Total Harm} = \text{Natural Cause (First Spear)} + \text{Witchcraft (Second Spear)}
• Hunting precedent: first spearer and umbaga (second spearer) share kill.
  • Elephant goring: elephant = first spear, witchcraft = second spear.
  • Battlefield death: enemy spear = first, witchcraft = second.
• Witchcraft supplies missing link where two independent causal chains intersect in harmful coincidence.

Domains Where Witchcraft Is Not the Principal Cause

• Moral & legal breaches where personal responsibility paramount:
  • Lying, theft, adultery, disloyalty, murder by weapon → “Witchcraft does not make a person do X.”
• Cases where social authority has already assigned guilt:
  • Execution ordered by king; vengeance killings sanctioned by oracle → witchcraft explanation excluded (treasonous to suggest otherwise).
• Taboo infractions supply primary cause:
  • Premature parental intercourse → child sickness/death.
  • Incest → leprosy.
  • Violation of ritual abstinence before magic or oracle consultation → ritual failure.
  • Yet, if death ensues, witchcraft can still join as “second spear,” yielding three causal layers: illness, taboo breach, witchcraft.
• Obvious incompetence or accident:
  • Child smashes pot, woman burns porridge, novice craftsman’s flaws → blamed on carelessness or inexperience.

Situations Still Typically Attributed to Witchcraft

• Serious bodily harm (burns, falls into pits, mass death in hunting fire).
• Unexplained rapid illness not clearly sorcery-related.
• Old age deaths: publicly “old age,” privately (among kin) “witchcraft.”
• Adultery indirectly causing spouse’s hunting/war death: witchcraft participates alongside moral breach.

Perception of Natural vs. Mystical

• Azande lack abstract categories “natural law” / “supernatural.”
• Nevertheless recognize difference between sensory-observable processes and hidden mystical agency:
  • Witchcraft normally invisible; known through dreams, oracle verdicts, or consequences.
  • People profess partial ignorance: “Perhaps an elder or witch-doctor knows more.”
  • Knowledge experiential & action-oriented; feelings > formal doctrine.
• Evans-Pritchard notes interlocutors’ hesitation, suggesting intellectual weakness of concept yet behavioral strength.

Logical Consistency & Rationality within the System

• Witchcraft supplements empirical causation; does not deny termites, sparks, germs, physics.
• Chain shortening: when socially relevant, witchcraft named and secondary causes ignored.
• Comparable to Western suppression of scientific determinism in courtrooms (moral accountability overrides).
• Use of oracles, persuasion, and vengeance reflects practical application rather than theoretical analysis.

Social & Practical Implications

• Minor, irreversible losses → usually no witch hunt; lament only.
• Incipient or ongoing harm → urgent oracle consultation to identify witch; goal: persuade withdrawal, apply protective magic.
• Death cases → possibility of vengeance/compensation; witch identification critical.
• System maintains social equilibrium by:
  • Providing channel for anger.
  • Reinforcing norms (taboos, moral duties).
  • Regulating retaliation through oracle procedures rather than random violence.

Comparative / Meta-Analytic Takeaways

• Demonstrates how a holistic belief system can be both rational (internally coherent) and empirically grounded yet fundamentally different from Western epistemology.
• Highlights importance of social context in selecting which among multiple recognized causes is foregrounded.
• Shows coexistence of empirical knowledge (termites, technique, contagion) with mystical causation without perceived contradiction.
• Exemplifies broader anthropological theme: categories of “natural/supernatural” are cultural constructs; analytical separation may not mirror native taxonomy.