Witchcraft, Witches, and Violence in Ghana W , W , V ITCHCRAFT ITCHES AND IOLENCE G IN HANA Mensah Adinkrah berghahn N E W Y O R K • O X F O R D www.berghahnbooks.com Published by Berghahn Books www.berghahnbooks.com ©2015 Mensah Adinkrah All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission of the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Adinkrah, Mensah, author. Witchcraft, witches, and violence in Ghana / Mensah Adinkrah.    pages cm  Includes bibliographical references and index.  ISBN 978-1-78238-560-8 (hardback) — ISBN 978-1-78238-561-5 (ebook)  1. Witchcraft—Social aspects—Ghana. 2. Witches—Ghana—Violence against. 3. Trials (Witchcraft)—Ghana. 4. Sexism in witchcraft trials—Ghana. 5. Akan (African people)—Social conditions. I. Title.  BF1584.G5A35 2015  133.4309667—dc23 2014033518 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Printed on acid-free paper. ISBN 978-1-78238-560-8 hardback ISBN 978-1-78238-561-5 ebook To my parents: Afua Agyeiwaa Boame and Yaw Atuobi Mensah. C ONTENTS List of Illustrations viii Preface ix Introduction. Witchcraft Violence in Comparative Perspective 1 Chapter 1. Ghana: The Research Setting 20 Chapter 2. Witchcraft Beliefs in Ghana 53 Chapter 3. Socialization into Witchcraft Beliefs 108 Chapter 4. Witchcraft Themes in Popular Ghanaian Music 134 Chapter 5. Witchcraft Imagery in Akan Proverbs 154 Chapter 6. Witchcraft Trials in Ghanaian Courts 183 Chapter 7. Witch Killings 208 Chapter 8. Nonlethal Treatment of Alleged Witches 235 Chapter 9. Gendered Victimization: Patriarchy, Misogyny, and Gynophobia 269 Conclusion. Curbing Witchcraft-Related Violence in Ghana 286 Glossary 299 Bibliography 303 Index 320 I LLUSTRATIONS Maps  0.1. M ap of Africa 6  1.1. M ap of Ghana 21 Figures 1.1. S chool Children 24 1.2. C hurch Building 45 1.3. Y outh at a Church Service 49 2.1. A ngel Figurines and Bibles near a Ghanaian Sleeping Bed 94 2.2. A dvertisement for a Fetish Priest 96 2.3. S ignpost Advertising an Herbal and Spiritual Center 98 2.4. S ample of Spiritual Protection Oils and Creams Being Sold on the Ghanaian Market 100 3.1. S ample of Ghanaian Witchcraft Movies 114 3.2. N ewspaper Stories of Witchcraft 116 3.3. F ront Page of a Ghanaian Newsweekly Depicting a Story about Witchcraft Violence 118 8.1. A dvertisement for a Christian Prayer Camp (1) 243 8.2. A dvertisement for a Christian Prayer Camp (2) 244 8.3. A dvertisement for a Christian Prayer Camp (3) 244 9.1. T he Author at a Witches’ Camp in Northern Ghana 270 9.2. W omen Inmates at a Witches’ Camp in Northern Ghana 270 C.1. A nti–Witchcraft Violence Campaign Poster (1) 295 C.2. Anti–Witchcraft Violence Campaign Poster (2) 296 P REFACE Growing up in Ghana in the 1960s and 1970s, I was immersed in a culture where witchcraft ideology constituted part of the fabric of daily life. The discussions among adults about malevolent witches and the calamities they caused were the background sounds of my childhood that I would be allowed to overhear only while at work doing chores or at play with sib- lings. I was never invited into such adult conversations and my questions could be met with reprimands. Though less frequent, there were also the accounts of benevolent witches who orchestrated noble deeds for their benefactors. In either case, I heard about the capacity of witches to aff ect the fortunes of others. Among schoolmates and other compeers, there were the stories shared about witchcraft, witch sightings, and other tales featuring witches and their horrifi c deeds. As a youngster, my curiosity and fear for witches, their odious activi- ties and the excesses of witch hunts, would be heightened after I wan- dered into the local magistrates’ court of my hometown one afternoon to fi nd out why a large crowd had congregated outside. The case being adjudicated was both a civil and criminal matter involving witchcraft im- putation. A woman in her mid-eighties was narrating to the magistrate the details of her violent victimization at the hands of those making ac- cusations of witchcraft against her. She recounted how her accusers had forcibly bundled her into a taxi and hauled her off before a witch doctor in a small remote village. There, she was given a concoction consisting of a local spirit alcohol mixed with some concentrated bitter herbs and dried, ground coconut meat. She told the court that after being forced to consume copious amounts of this potion, she vomited profusely and then lost consciousness. When she regained consciousness several hours later, her accusers thrust in her lap three notebooks purportedly full of confes- sional statements she had made after drinking the potion. The statements had apparently been recorded by her assailants and comprised her alleged malevolent witchcraft activities. Standing in the packed courtroom, I was baffl ed and traumatized to come this close to an accused witch and to hear