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| Title: | The occult does not exist: a response to Terence Ranger |
| Authors: | Haar, Gerrie ter Ellis, Stephen |
| Year: | 2009 |
| Periodical: | Africa: Journal of the International African Institute |
| Volume: | 79 |
| Issue: | 3 |
| Pages: | 399-412 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Africa |
| Subjects: | African religions magic African studies |
| External links: | https://doi.org/10.3366/E0001972009000874 http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/africa_the_journal_of_the_international_african_institute/v079/79.3.ter-haar.pdf |
| Abstract: | In recent years, it has become common for academic writers to use 'the occult' as an analytical category to which are assigned various types of mystical belief and activity that are quite widespread in Africa, including those often described as 'magic' and 'witchcraft'. It is notable that all these concepts generally go undefined. The present article argues that much of the current academic vocabulary used to describe and analyse the invisible world that many Africans believe to exist is tainted by an intellectual history associated with colonialism. Instead, the authors propose that much African thought and action related to the invisible world should be considered in terms of religion, with the latter being defined contextually as a belief in the existence of an invisible world, distinct but not separate from the visible one, that is home to spiritual beings with effective powers over the material world. The article is in particular a response to a review article by Terence Ranger in 'Africa' vol. 77, no. 2 (2007) concerning 'medicine murders', 'child witches' and the construction of 'the occult'. A comment by Birgit Meyer is included on p. 413- 415. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French. [Journal abstract] |
