Book
Witchcraft in Ghana: a study on the belief in destructive witches and its effect on the Akan tribes
Presbyterian Book Depot Ltd. • Accra • Published In 1961 • Pages:
By: Debrunner, Hans W..
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Studies of witchcraft are more accurately studies about anti-witchcraft cults and movements. It is rare if not impossible to document the practice of witchcraft. For example, in this study the author does not interview any witches, nor observe any of their practices. Rather, it is the omnipresent fear of witches, which spawns numerous anti-witchcraft cults and is the focus of this study. The Akan ascribe all etiology to human agency. Healing churches establish shrines to solicit the aid of powerful spirits to protect a village from witchcraft and disease. Witch-hunting prophets help to identify witches and exorcise their malevolent spirits. Anti-witchcraft movements rise in number and ferocity when political and economic change threatens the moral order and health of a community. Debrunner also discusses Akan psychology in the context of witchcraft beliefs. The book contains 32 pages of photographs.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Sorcery
- Magical and mental therapy
- Religious beliefs
- Ecclesiastical organization
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Akan
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2000
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Africa
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Western Africa
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Cleric
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Ian Skoggard ; 1999
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- Not Specified
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1850-1960
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Ghana
- NotesAdditional notes
- by H. Debrunner
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 189-191) and index
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Akan (African people)