Magical Interpretations, Material Reality: Modernity, Witchcraft and the Occult in Postcolonial Africa

This volume sets out recent thinking on witchcraft in Africa, paying particular attention to variations in meanings and practices. Using recent ethnographic materials from across the continent, the volume explores how witchcraft articulates with particular modern settings. Examples discussed in the text include the State in Cameroon; Pentecostalism in Malawi; the university system in Nigeria and the IMF in Ghana, Sierra Leone and Tanzania. The editors provide a timely overview and reconsideration of longstanding anthropological debate about 'African witchcraft, while simultaneously raising broader concerns about the theories of the western social sciences.