Introduction
In the chapter “Witchcraft explains unfortunate events”, Evans-Pritchard states that Azande perceive witchcraft as a power that may lead to misfortune when it establishes contact with other events.1 Even though it is an ordinary and casual phenomenon for them, Azande do not refer to it when discussing all possible incidents. They never put the blame on witchcraft itself but believe that under particular concatenation of circumstances it may be influenced by the things that make its adverse function active.
Review
Evans-Pritchard emphasizes that Azande do not object rational causes of unfortunate events. Moreover, they consider witchcraft to be the second trigger that makes a tragedy happen. Such approach allows them to describe and discuss important social phenomena. In this way, Azande explain the things they do not know or understand but consider to be vital when mentioning the whole chain of events that lead to misfortune. The notion of witchcraft allows them to communicate the knowledge of why something is detrimental. Evans-Pritchard also distinguishes the concept of sorcery. It is described as an intended action that is made to cause incident while witchcraft itself is neutral.
Pointing out the existence of primary and secondary triggers of unfortunate events, Evans-Pritchard underlined that Azande’s views and beliefs have much in common with those accepted in the western tradition even though they seem to be completely different. Such emphasis allows to understand that Azande’s perception of the world is rather complicated.
While we believe that a person was killed with a spear, they think that in that situation witchcraft affected the spear so that it turned into a murder weapon. Thus, in the situations when we usually refer to fate, bad luck or karma, Azande speak about witchcraft. It is not an evil agent like sorcery, but something totally independent and uncontrolled. Moreover, it becomes clear that unfortunate events caused by people’s actions are not connected with witchcraft.
In this chapter, Evans-Pritchard makes a vivid distinction between two worlds: ours and Azande’s. Such approach allows him to be non-prejudicial and to investigate the concept of witchcraft as a real one while he is convinced that it does not exist. In this way, the author receives an opportunity to structure Azande’s perceptions so that they can be understood by people who have another habit of mind.
A set of examples chosen by Evans-Pritchard clearly demonstrates the notion of the key concepts. He successfully used the functionalist approach in this work to investigate the concept of witchcraft, as explained causal relations of the events. Still, author’s arguments and attitudes are biased, as he considers Azande’s views to be naïve, as they do not fully apply rational ideas to explain the reasons for incidents.
Conclusion
Even though this reading was written long ago and its topic is not on the front burner, Evans-Pritchard’s ideas can be used in the contemporary world. Today people often refer to the notion of destiny and karma when something bad happens. Some of them even do not realize the meaning of these concepts and just produce set-phrases. Still, the notion of witchcraft that is thoroughly investigated and explained by the author can be used to consider our perception of them. Of course, it does not mean that they can be compared, but the way we use these concepts to explain unfortunate events is likely to be similar.
References
Evans-Pritchard, Edward. “Witchcraft Explains Unfortunate Events”. In Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic Among Azande, 18-32. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976.
Footnotes
- Edward Evans-Pritchard, “Witchcraft Explains Unfortunate Events,” in Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic Among Azande. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976), 18-32.