Witchcraft in Four African Societies: An Essay in Comparison

N THIS paper’ it is proposed to present a small-scale model of a comparaI tive analysis, more precisely, of an analysis of “concomitant variations” (to borrow Ilurkheim’s term), such as any enquiry concerned with the explanation of social facts must employ. The facts in question are particular variants of the belief in witchcraft. Indirectly, the study will also refer to a much discussed hypothesis, the assumption that infantile experiences represent a paramount determinant of culture. The comparison concerns two pairs of societies-the Nupe and Gwari in Northern Nigeria, and the Kotongo and Mesakin tribes in the Nuba Mountains of the Central Sudan. Each pair shows wide cultural similarities combined with a few marked divergences, one of these being the diversity in witchcraft beliefs. This discussion will proceed on two assumptions: (1) that any one relevant cultural divergence entails further, concomitant, divergences in the respective cultures; and (2) that witchcraft beliefs are causally related to frustrations, anxieties or other mental stresses precisely as psychopathological symptoms are related to mental disturbances of this nature.