Reconsidering Witchcraft: Postcolonial Africa and Analytic (Un)Certainties Author(s): Todd Sanders Source: American Anthropologist, New Series,

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to NewAnswers OldQuestions
TRADITION, MODERNITY, AND POSTCOLONIALITY

TODD SANDERS

and PostcolonialAfrica Witchcraft: Reconsidering (Un)Certainties Analytic

flexible deeply and of are archaic static arehighly nor but attuned theconundrums to notions witchcraft neither ABSTRACT African have that notions theAfrican of witch commentaries the on world. ofourcontemporary Many provide anthropologists recently argued in and one particular ofwitchmerit modernityexperienced different of as historical cultural and By settings. exploring type meaning of instead someforms witchcraft be more that of theIhanzu Tanzania, article this craft-that suggests may rain-amongst involving local of than Itis that of rain to pertinent understanding notions "tradition" "modernity." argued theprocess identifying witches proa the of men women and with wayto circumscribe, reassert veracity significancea conand vides Ihanzu and, contemplate, ultimately, The the concludes critiquing homogenizing effects terms the of like African witch and by ceptual category call"tradition." article they in of than African ustothink terms pluralities rather singulars. witchcraft, witchcraft, raintradition, compelling [Keywords: modernity, theory] anthropological making, "BUT YOU'RE THE VOICE OF TRADITION!,"an exasperdiviner. "You understand ated man bellowedat the defiant these things,"he continued,"and then you go and ruin and defeated divinersat, staring the them!"Disconcerted intothehostilecrowd. vacantly hot It was anotherunseasonablyand unreasonably and dryFebruary in Ihanzu,Tanzania. The rains,it is day ditrue,were long overdue.And this most unfortunate shall call him Kingu-had been publiclyaccused viner-I witchcraft. themthrough of ruining Kinguwas no stranger at Since 1989 he has suffered to suchaccusations. through for the leasttenheatedtrials allegedly bewitching rain.On released this occasion, like others,Kinguwas eventually If witha sternwarning: he did not allow the rainto fall, and soon, he would be expelledfromthe village.Fortuiweek. He was altouslyforKingu,it rainedthe following in thevillage. if lowedto remain, precariously, This rainwitchcraft withmanyothersI case, together me encountered my during timein Ihanzu,' prompted to scholars view African reflect how manycontemporary on witchcraft today.Forthereis a striking degreeof scholarly consensus thatAfrican as witchcraft-situated,itis,soundly withintheproject(s) modernity-is of and indeedmustbe Witches aboutmodernity. and peoples'beliefs aboutthem are thought providemoralizing to on metacommentaries
AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST 105(2):338-352.

the project of modernity perhaps more accurately, or, in modernities theplural.2 as Yet,somewhat unexpectedly, Kingu'scase alludes, Ihanzu rainwitchcraft verylittleto do withlocal nohas tionsof modernity On this (maendeleo). the contrary, case and otherslike it seem to concernthemselves morewith localconcepts tradition of most (jadi).The aim ofthisarticle, is to suggest thatAfrican witchcraft stated, generally may well be partof modernity, by no means needs to be but aboutmodernity. NotionsofAfrican witchcraft proved have flexibleand thus survive-indeedthrive-in surprisingly novelpostcolonial contexts and 1993b; (Comaroff Comaroff Geschiere1997; Shaw 2002). This conceptualflexibility witchmaybe about moderimpliesthatwhilethe African it mayalso be about otherthings, too. In some cases nity, Africanwitchcraft allows men and women to circumand the of scribe, contemplate, reassert veracity a concepa tual category theyfindmeaningful, category theycall "tradition." differently,the African Put if witch"permits about the causes and consequences,costs and argument benefits particular of forms modernity" of 1994: (Comaroff 11), then it similarly providesmen and women with a means to envisageand engage creatively with particular forms tradition. of of is "Tradition," course, itself modernity's shadowy companion. One categoryhas little meaning
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Sanders * Reconsidering Witchcraft 339 withoutthe other.Even so, by speakingto "tradition," Ihanzurainwitchcraft to speaks "modernity" obliquely. only It demarcates but boundaries does modernity's conceptual not fillthem. AT WITCHCRAFT THEMILLENNIUM AFRICAN Witchcraft long been centralto the anthropological has workto socialanthropologists enterprise, especially British in Africa.3 was in this contextthat E. E. EvansIt ing Pritchard studyon Azandewitchproducedhis landmark on craft 1937), focusing the sociologyof (Evans-Pritchard knowledge,and where later ManchesterSchool anthroof the suspipologists explored social dynamics witchcraft cions and accusations(Marwick1965; Middleton 1960, 1963; Mitchell1956; Turner 1957). of scholarsoffer AfriThe explanations contemporary from thoseoftheir in witchcraft differ important can ways Most notably, manytodayhave been enthupredecessors. of the to siastic demonstrate modernity witchcraft (Geschiere witchwe 1997). No longer, are told,can we viewAfrican as "archaicor exoticphenomeand craft similar ideologies historical pronon, somehowisolatedor disjointed[from] cesses of global political and economic transformation" (Auslander1993:168; Geschiere1998a). Rather,African are beliefsand practices alive and awareof the witchcraft of basic rhythms our worldand engage in creative ways withnovel postcolonialrealities (Bastian1993; Comaroff and Comaroff 2001; Geschiere 1993b; Fisiyand Geschiere 1997; Parish2000; Shaw 1997, 2001). This is why,predicnotand globalizationtheorists tions of modernization and other"occult African witchcraft, sorcery, withstanding, and economies"(Comaroff Comaroff 1999) are reportedly on the rise, not decline, across the continent(Bastian and Warnier 1993:156;Colson 2000:341; Rowlands 1988).4 the in Whether statepolitics, legal institutions, economy, 1996: or simplyas everyday"public secrets"(Ashforth is all thatpermeate thesearenas,witchcraft all-per1194) bewitchcraft vasive in Africa today.5By contextualizing this and historically, new bothspatially liefsand practices, wave of studieshas endeavoredto show the myriadof forms integral an partof the African waysthatwitchcraft (see experience Mooreand Sanders2001). postcolonial scholAfricanist of To thisend,a number contemporary witchcraft ars have implied-and some have insisted-that metacommenand discourses practices moralizing provide in as the meaningof modernity experienced diftarieson has witchcraft been localities.In this sense African ferent but seen not onlyas partof modernity also as a locallyinflectedcritiqueof it; as a local lexicon, in otherwords, latentand that points up and engageswith modernity's blatantimmoralities. the to difficult overstate popuIt would be extremely anwitchesand witchcraft, of larity thisposition.African of have "becomea symptom have suggested, thropologists accuto the waysin whichthe values attributed capitalist mulationand the possession of materialgoods generate friction the local moral economy" (Parish2000:488); in "expresspeople's worriesabout globalization'sthreatenon ing encroachment intimate spheresof life"(Geschiere that"peopledo not eas1998a:813,n. 5); and thussuggest surrender controloverthe material and symbolic ily productionand reproduction theirlives" (Auslander of 1993: African and 189). Furthermore, witches,witchcraft, the discourses about themhave been seen as "a critique the of which makespeople exchangeessencapitalist economy tial values of fertility, health and long life formaterial on commentary gains" (Meyer1992:118, 1995); "a critical inequality and on the violence that underlaypower" "a of (Smith2001:807); potentially provoking self-critique the capitalist West" (Austen1993:105); "modernity's proand Comaroff 1993a: totypicalmalcontents"(Comaroff a that"has allowedthosewho xxviii-xxix); local discourse in to participate its reproduction see the goods and techas of modernity both desirableand disruptive" nologies on (West 1997:693); and "a metacommentary the deeply of modernity" ambivalent (Sanders1999b:128).In project witchtoor disguises, African the in whatever short, guises alike with fertile and Africanists Africans day provides and for considering, conconceptualterrain constructing, of that testingthe multiple manifestations modernity flourish the crossroadsof local and global at positively worlds. Thereare a numberof reasonsthis African-witch-ashas master-trope approach,albeitin variedforms, gained One favor suchoverwhelming anthropologists. is amongst teledesireto reject the poststructuralist uncompromising to and parthose stories, paraphrase of progress, ologies Geertz Clifford (1973:448),thatthe Westtells tially pervert These are the itselfabout itself(see Ferguson1999:13ff). and Leach 2000) metanarratives modernity of (Englund nothat deftly encompassand naturalizemanyWestern with capital letters: the tions commonlyconceptualized of the searchforTruth; inevitable relentless triumph Reathe son over superstition; riseof the Modernand the demise of Tradition.Yet no longer can we correctly supis pose-indeed we nevercould-that "the primitive" one step behind "the modern."Nor,in spiteof claimsto the can assumethat"modernity destroys contrary, we rightly tradition" 1994:91). Recentstudiesinsteadinsist (Giddens modernsetthatwe findourselves-all ofus-in perfectly Followmodernconundrums. tings,facedwith perfectly broader intellectualmandate, then, ing anthropology's "theOther."6 aim thesecritiques to deotherize in Simultaneously, writings thisgenreplayon a poputhe moralityof "the lar liberal critiqueby celebrating imOther"whilesimultaneously showing theinherent up and invasivenessof the new world (dis)order. morality this and other social scientists, Among anthropologists has longproveda popularpoliticaland rhetorical strategy, as one thatappeals to our liberalsensibilities well as fulwith to moralobligations those"Others" our fills manifest whom we work. Peoples in farawayplaces thus offer of, into,and causticcritiques theworkings unique insights

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AmericanAnthropologist * Vol. 105, No. 2 * June2003 Most scholarswould todayagreethattradition dyis attunedto the ebb and flowof day-tonamic,and highly and 1996; Guyer day life(Bernal1997; Errington Gewertz Schrauwers For yearsnow, social scientists 1996; 1999). have knownthattradition "plucked, is and created, shaped to present needs and aspirations a givenhistorical in situation" (Gusfield traditions outare 1967:358). Sometimes invented tra1983). In others, right (Ranger long-standing ditions are abolished by the very people who practice them. The Manjaco of Guinea-Bissau, instance,hold for in the form initiation of ceremonies periodic"congresses" whichtheyactively over and rewrite "tradiduring argue tion"by eliminating customs findoutmoded specific they (Gable 1995,also 2000). While the negotiation "tradition" sometimes of is a discursive as the matter, amongst Manjaco,it need notbe. The processof decidingwhat is or is not "tradition" may a equallybe one ofpractical engagement, process whereby the category "thingstraditional" actively of is negotiated ratherthan saying.As we shall see, the throughdoing Ihanzu ofTanzania use rainwitchcraft accusations prein and occacisely this way: to circumscribe, contemplate, the of as sionallyrenegotiate category "tradition" locally reassert whattraenvisaged.In so doing,theyconfidently ditionis, and what it oughtto be. At the same time,this the of processevokesand demarcates boundaries a parallel leaves its concepconceptual category-modernity-but tual terrain The factthat Ihanzu rain mostlyuncharted. witchcraft implicated is morein tradition than in moderto and nityis related how people linkrainmaking ethnic identity. "RAINBREAKING," AND IHANZURAINMAKING, ETHNIC IDENTITY The Ihanzu live in north-central Tanzania and currently numberaroundthirty their thousand.7 Theyare farmers, and maize.Evenso, millet, principle cropsbeingsorghum, has semiarid refarming neverprovedeasyin thisremote, Soils aregenerally and the rainsfailabout one gion. poor, year in five.The rain falls-when it does fall-between Novemberand Aprilor May. The monthsbetweenJune and Octobertypically no rain at all. Even in good see rainfall 30 eryears, peaksat a meager inches.Thisis often ratic and unevenlydistributed: one village (sometimes even one plot) mayreceivesufficient whileone adjarain cent to it driesup. Thereare no year-round rivers and few waterpumps that mightease the situation. operational For these reasons,farming Ihanzu is and always has in been a precariousenterprise. is small wonder,really, It that rain is of the utmostpracticaland symbolic importanceto all Ihanzu. Most Ihanzubelievethattheir tworoyalleaders(akola acihI) bringthe rain each year,a feattheypurportedly and complishwiththe help of the ancestors, medicines, certainrituals.Even thoughpeople sometimessay these leadersmake rain (anoniaImbula),no one means by this

of our contemporary world(West and Sandersin press). remindus that our own masternarratives Such critiques not naturalproducts;that "our preare deeply cultural, discourse pronouncedin a particular is tendedrationalist cultural dialect-that 'we are one of the others'" (Sahlins and Comaroff 1993a, 1999, 1993:12; see also Comaroff aim 2000). Here,anthropologists to unsettleand problematizeWestern commonplaces. Recentanthropological concernswithAfrican witchcraft also drawattention local agencyand creative to potentialities. overrun globalstrucPeople are not simply by turalinevitabilities: accommodate, They resist, creatively and selectively new styles, and appropriate symbols, strucof meaning.Global-localinterstices tures become highly creative siteswhere"people 'make'themselves as modern, opposed to being'made' modernby alien and impersonal forces" (Gaonkar1999:16). In spiteof these resonances-or,perhapsmore accuof because them-itis worthwhile whether, rately, pondering in aimingto see anthropology's theoretical we forest, have not lost sightof her empiricaltrees.In this case, even aboutwitches and witchcraft wide have thoughdiscourses social currency contemporary in Africa and in certainalcoves of the academe,thisdoes not necessarily mean that such discourses have something interest say about of to the (un)desirability African of modernities. Theymay. Or not. Forbeingwithin and beingabout theymay modernity are all, modernity not,after logically equivalent(Englund be 1996:259). It would,therefore, unwiseto assume,as the collective of literature seemsto do, that weight thecurrent all African must todaybe "about" modernity; witchcraft thatall Africans' fears and fantasies, trials and tribulations witchesmustnecessarily the concerning "personify conof flicts modernity, ways in which foreign the inforces vade local worlds, into monsters, turning ordinary people and endangering established (Comaroff 1994:9). life-ways" In some cases,ofcourse, 2001a, in press). theydo (Sanders Butgivenwitchcraft's we palpabledynamism, shouldalso witchcraft discourses be polysemic, to expect capable of claimsabout manythings.One of thosethingsis making a category as (cf. people ponder and proffer "tradition" Green1997; Sanders1999b). To speak,once again, of tradition not a disingenuis ous return the notionthat"non-Western" to peoples live in an archaic, static world.Noris it to defend defective social evolutionary masternarraparadigms.Modernity's tives-at leastamong anthropologists-have all theolost reticalplausibility, say nothingof social respectability. to While it may be truethatthe termtradition becoming is banal and meaningless,as Achille Mbembe complains (Guyer 1996:4), it is also true that it remainswith us that we reconsider tradi(Guyer1996:4). The suggestion tion is thusa plea to recognize thattradition, moderlike in nity,today features prominently the African popular As a locallymeaningful (Kratz1993). imagination category ofthought and action,it demandsour analytic attention.

Sanders * Reconsidering Witchcraft 341 it that they create (k~lompwa) fromthin air. Only God (Itunda) can do this. Rather,royals are said to "suck," (kiluta) God's rainclouds"pull," "entice,"or "attract" and, with that, God's rain-from distant locations to is the Ihanzu. Such sucking onlymade possibleby gaining and are of the ancestors (aliingii), all rainrites diapproval toward thisend.8 rected female. Of theroyal one rainmakers,9 is male,theother Both are membersof the royalrainmaking matrilineage (Anyampandawa Kirumi);successionto theirpositions withinthe matrilineage. It followsrulesof primogeniture who are thoughtjointlyto is these two reigning royals of Otherroyalsand hold the ultimate secrets rainmaking. membersof the Anyampandaclan are sometimessusof some esoteric knowledge rainmakpectedof possessing to are ing. Underno circumstances theyable legitimately the to use thisknowledge influence weather. diRitualleadersgain theirsanctionand legitimacy fromwhat people consider "traditional" sources, rectly namely,the ancestralspirits.Part of this sanction they diperson,sincetheyare themselves embodywithintheir of descendants previousIhanzu rainmakrectmatrilineal ers.The otherpartrequires theyobservecertain practices. in whatis todaythesubvillage of Royalleadersmustreside is the Kirumi, sacredcenterof Ihanzu. Kirumi also where ritual rainmakingroyals must be buried. Additionally, an for or leadersare responsible performing overseeing arrayof rain riteseach yearin Kirumi-all of whichpeople insistare traditional (jadi or mila)-immediately priorto to bring and duringthe wet season. Attempting ritually rainat any othertimeof theyearwould,people say,be as God's rainwould thenbe unfutile it would be foolish. as would not listen. The availableto attract: spirits the onset of the rains,usuallyin October, before Just rainrite, the theyear'sfirst "cutting nightsod" (kiikumpya rite is held in Kirumi. Thisannual initiatory is carlutinde), marksthe beginning each new seaof ried out privately, son, and is followedby severalpublic ritesat the Kirumi Annual rain riteshave been carried rainshrine (mpilimo). out in Ihanzu since at leastthe late 1800s (Adam 1963).10 the Today it is primarily male leaderwho conductsthese male rainmaking assistants. aided by several rites, 19 assistants There are currently rainmaking (ataata; who residein and represent of the 18 ten sing. mitaata) villagesin Ihanzu. Each season these men collect token each householdin theirrespective amountsof grainfrom it for (see villagesand bring to Kirumi theannual rainrites Sanders 1998). Followingthe night cuttingof the sod, these assistantspreparerain medicinesinside the rainof shrine,underthe direction the male leader.Although the femaleleaderneverentersthe shrine, is widelyasit each other determine to consult sumedthatthetwoleaders are which medicinalmixtures mosteffective. Throughout assistantsvisit the rainshrine to the season rainmaking remix rainmedicines. the monitor and, ifnecessary, rain When thesepreliminary rites rain,no other bring the rainrites necessary are however, during year. Regrettably, the rain does not alwaysfallimmediately, at the right or timeor place. Certain remedial measures thentakento are avertdrought. These remedialritesincluderoyalrain ofka which are largegatherings, ferings (mapolyo mbula),"11 asinvolving manymorethan justroyalsand rainmaking sistants. rainofferings takeplace whentheyare Royal only deemed necessary throughdivination(Sanders2002). A second remedial measure is a women's rain dance that shares broad similarities with women's (isimpidya) rain rites found widely across Africa(see Moore et al. women are granted extreme license 1999). In theserites, and are expectedto behave outrageously-they dance nakeddownthe paths,makelewdgestures, singobscene and 2000). songs(Sanders Alltheserainrites and thosewho perform themareof to decided importance the Ihanzu today,and have been forwell over a century. precolonialtimes,Ihanzu vilIn lages were largelyautonomous,each responsibleforits own internal There political,legal,and economic affairs. was little cooperationbetween villages and occasional (Reche 1914:85). People did, however,share a fighting commonpurposein ritual matters warfare. such inand In stancesall lookedto the Kirumi rainmakers leadership. for As in otherprecolonialAfrican societies(Feierman1990; Packard1981), these royalleaders,theirmedicines,and the ritualstheyconductedwere essentialto the flow of and cirdailylife:the farming cycle,protection, hunting, cumcision. Ihanzu of different villages were united by theircommon allegianceto the rainmaking at specialists Kirumi has Morethanthis,rainmaking (Adam 1963:17).12 focalpointforcolprovidedthe Ihanzu withan enduring lectiveidentity. Oflate,scholars have shownhow "identity," "tralike forms of the social imagination. from Far bedition," part is actively molded in particular social, ing fixed,identity culturaland historicalsettings(Greene 1996; Hodgson 2001; Sorenson1993; Spearand Waller1993). Forthemen and women of Ihanzu,rainmaking long featured has cenin and trally this constructive projectof self-making still does today. Since my first visit to Ihanzu in the early 1990s, countlessmen and women have told me that,ifI am to writea book about them,then it mustsurely a be book on "Ihanzu traditions" rainmaking. Ihanzu In of beliefs and practices markout both rainmaking eyes,their an identifiable terrain "tradition," well as providea of as certaincollectivesense of "Ihanzuness."One way Ihanzu ideas about the linkagesbetweenrainmaking and ethnic are is rites. identity made manifest throughrainmaking Another through is their origin myth. I have onlyheardone Ihanzu origin the myth, one all Ihanzu know,the one many have told over the yearsto non-Ihanzuwith evidentzeal (Adam 1963:14-15; KohlLarsen1943:194-195).13 Variations aside, all versionstell from of an ancientmigration Ukerewe Island in Lake Victoria.As the storygoes, many different clans made this journey,driven by famine and drought.Varied clans whichare todayremembered rested different at locations,

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AmericanAnthropologist * Vol. 105, No. 2 * June2003 of fire who, underduress, testimony accusedrainwitches the collective I have heard of witchesstopimagination. ping the rainby tossingredmedicineto the fourcardinal colorinversion otherrainofferings); of points(a symbolic forcinga young, naked boy to pack down medicines aroundthe villagewithhis buttocks inversion the of (an women fromotherrain rites);and a man naked, fertile about,withoutpants,with a feather wandering protrudfrom posterior immediate his (no ingconspicuously explanation). AlthoughI have never witnessedany of these a assureme thingsmyself, numberof reliableinformants thattheyhave. Why would anyone bewitch the rain? What's the local theory it,are able to entice has point?Rain witches, the rain clouds fromothervillagers' plots to theirown. This allows them, in theory, reap a large harvestand to consumeinordinate amountsof grainwhile fellow villagers suffer.5s Here I stress"in theory" since this is the rationalepeople often whenasked,in general terms, produce about rainwitchcraft. practice In are things different. When considering cases of rainwitchcraft, it specific is farfromobvious that those accused have in any way benefitedfromtheir alleged nefariousactivities.Some have lotsof grain;manyothers not.Villagers do recognize thisand explainawaythisdiscrepancy variedwaysbut in thatrain witches'desiresformass decommonlysuggest struction override theircommon sense. They destroy all rain-including rain they mightsteal-and, thus, ironithemselves thebargain."Rainwitches in are cally,destroy just stupid!,"snapped one woman.Thus,whilein theory rainwitcheshave much to gain,in practice people imply these witchesare whollyincompetent. Rain witchesare Andnot too bright. reckless. simply To bewitchthe rain,or the royalleaderswho bring it, is to destroy sourceof all villagers' the livelihood.Furtherinstitutions and ritualofficimore, because rainmaking ants feature conspicuously Ihanzu identity, attack so in to themthrough witchcraft to strike thevery is at foundation of Ihanzu's senseofbeingin the world.To attack rain the is to attack "tradition." Rain witchcraft-like other no witchcraft-thus threatens undo all that is done, to to turnpeople's conceptualand practicallife-worlds upside down. For this reason,if the men and women of Ihanzu (Wilson 1970:285), possess a "standardized nightmare" then rain witchcraft surelyit. Beforeturning that is to we nightmare's specifics, mustunpackIhanzu notionsof and "tradition" "modernity."
IHANZU IMAGES OF TRADITION AND MODERNITY

by name,and some ofthe siteswithinIhanzu areused for rites.Moreover, each clan supposedlycame rainmaking withparticular Some came withseeds,while oththings. erscame withcattle.Not everyone knowsall the clans,or withthem.Howeverpeople neverfail what theybrought Ihanzu rainmakers also came to mentionthat the first withtheirrainmaking from Ukerewe, together knowledge and ritualparaphernalia. And,formany,thisseemsto be in the pointof tellingthe story the first place-to say,in with our rainso manywords,"We came fromUkerewe I makers and rainmedicines." Everyone askedaboutwhat makes an Ihanzu an Ihanzu explicitly noted as much, of oftenpointingproudlyin the northerly direction Ukerewefor added emphasis. as Thus,iftheNuersee themselves "people of cattle," it would not be inaccurate say thatthe Ihanzu imagine to themselves a "rainmakingpeople." Ihanzu men and thisthrough womenexpress and everitual, myth, in their of to ryday explanations who theyimaginethemselves be. the contiBy providing Ihanzu witha sense of historical ancestralspirits, and the nuitywithbygonegenerations, rites lands on whichtheylive,rainmaking and beliefs provide themwitha symbolic resource withwhichto generin ate a meaningful collectiveidentity the present. That featurescentrallyin the Ihanzu popular rainmaking feature whatit meansto of imagination-andis a defining be "Ihanzu" today-is hardly in surprising a locale where a climateis, quite literally, matterof life or death. The of institutions and beconceptualcentrality rainmaking liefs also helps explain the attitudesIhanzu men and womenhold aboutrainwitchcraft. Witchcraft if (iilogi)in Ihanzu is an all-pervasive, somewhat lives.14It mundane,partof people's day-to-day or can be inherited learnt, thereis littleconcernover but which typeof witchcraft particular witchmightuse. any This is because thosethought have inherited to witchcraft need notpractice and anyonecan purportedly it; purchase of witchcraft medicines. Ihanzu witchcraft any sortis consideredevil (abi tai) and destructive. Sometimeswitches are said to gain fromtheirdiabolicaldeeds. Othertimes theyapparently gainnothing. Ihanzu witchcraft comes in manyforms, and people stressthat different witches(alogi; sing. miilogi) excel at different Some, forinstance,allegtypesof destruction. edly specialize at killingpeople-frequentlyone's own clanmates but also governmentofficials, shopkeepers, and Others excel at the businesspersons, others. reputedly wantondestruction buses,radios,and other"modern" of wares(Sanders1999b). OfthevariedIhanzuwitches, none is moremenacing thantherainwitch:To attack rainis the to attackall Ihanzu-willfully, and without shamelessly, remorse. If rainmakers rain clouds and rainsto Ihanzu attract fromelsewhere, rain witches(alogia mbula)do precisely the oppositeby summoning windsto destroy them.How of theydo this,few can detail. People's understandings theritual mechanism rainwitchcraft heavily the of on rely

The Ihanzutodaydistinguish between twoconceptual cateand "tradition" (maendeleo) gories: "modernity" (jadi or on thesecategories and mila).As elsewhere the continent, their contentsare not of theirown making(Mudimbe are 1991; Pels 1996). Jadi, mila,and maendeleo all Swahili terms.They come fromelsewhere.This "elsewhere"has takenvariedforms time. through

Sanders * Reconsidering Witchcraft 343 Colonials-firstthe Germans, then the British-were the first introduce, to and give meaningto likely reify, thesecategories. Colonial administrators concontinually sideredthe Ihanzu "primitive," and "tradi"backward," in tional,"all termsthatfeature repeatedly colonial writon Ihanzu. Although this colonial imagining the of ings Ihanzu was multifaceted, of archetypal it was Ihanzurainand the making,a seemingly doggedvestigeof tradition tradition-bound tribesman. Such thinking made good (social evolutionary) sense in its day, especiallywhen conas trasted, it was,withEuropeanimagesofhome and with "modern"(or "modernizing") African cities. "Traditional"though it may have been, British administrators neverdemonizedor prohibited rainmaking. Theywerequick to realizethat"the questionof rainmaking in thisarea is one whichmustbe approachedwiththe caution."16 This is because,in the Ihanzu popular greatest and had long been imagination, rainmaking reignmaking for linked.Locallyunderstood, colonial chiefsto reignleIhanzu raingitimately, theyhad to bringrain.Byturning immakersinto colonial chiefs, then,the administration or thattradition, at leastcertain could be traditions, plied wereless accommodating. Missionaries positive. Lutheran The Augustana missionfirst openeditsdoors like in Ihanzu in 1931. Earlyand latermissionaries, colonial administrators, the Ihanzu and theirrainmaking saw Unlike colonial as beliefsand institutions "traditional." these "Messengersof Love" administrators, however, loathedsuch things and aimed ex(Ward 1999) positively tribal down of their at religion primitive plicitly "breaking before the advance of civilization"(Johnson1934:23). seen not Fromthispious perspective, onlywas rainmaking but it and "traditional," as "superstitious," "primitive," thathad to be was also seen as irrevocably something evil, eradicated at all cost. Today's Tanzanian postcolonial landscape bears the impressof these earlierunderstandand ingsoftradition modernity. Ihanzu Lutheranchurch views have changed little himself Ihanzu an fromearlier times.The local reverend, and continuesto preach on the perilsof tradition man, of moraland matein the salvationJesusoffers the form missionrial betterment. yearsafter Today,some seventy on thismissionary aries'arrival, messagefallsmostly deaf themears:80 percent Ihanzu men and womenclassify of selvesas pagans (wapagani)and do so unabashedly."17 Few, The Wordof a it seems,have any enthusiasm hearing for distantdemigod if this means the wholesale abandonand mentofrainmaking rites, beliefs, leaders. The postcolonialchurch'sand state'sviews,at leastin of Ihanzu,todaycoincidemorethanever.Representatives "tradition" and the postcolonialTanzanian statecontrast did them. as "modernity" colonial administrations before in myexperience, a premium However, todaymanyplace whilepainting on modernity its attainment tradition and if antithesis. Thereis little, any,space as modernity's stark for creativeaccommodation.For the Ihanzu, this was inclearwhen,immediately made distressingly following dependence,the postcolonialTanzanian state abolished acrossthe land. In an instant, Tanzania legischiefships lated itself "modern."18 Thus tradition,while actively and less imagined,is perhapsimaginedmore negatively creatively thestatetodaythanin thepast. by LiketheTanzanianpostcolonialchurchand state, the Ihanzu continueto find"tradition" "modernity" and good to thinkwith. But, contrary both, most Ihanzu still to maintainthat"tradition" a good thing, is something they want.Butwhyis this?Whatis at stake? actually Claims about "tradition," "culture,"and "identity," have frequently shown,can serveparticuanthropologists lar class or clan, generation, genderinterests. or This is the case, as in the exampleof MountKilimancommonly for suchas land,livestock, jaro,wherestruggling resources and labor is worthwhile (Moore 1986). In such places, whatcountsas "tradition" crucially is linkedto managing one's livelihoodsuccessfully. is muchless the case in This Ihanzu, wheresuch termsare not implicatedin identity politicsin the same way, or to the same extent:Being more"traditional" more "lhanzu" than one's neighbor or no obviousmaterial no access benefits, privileged provides to scarceresources. Indeed,in Ihanzu thereare no "traditional" resources which it is worthstruggling: for matriclan landsarelargely there no "traditional" are exhausted; herdholdingsintowhichpeople might corporate tap. Nor does anyone benefit fromasserting sense of a materially to Ihanzuness the government, whichignores such "tribal" markers suggests and to theyarecounterproductive theaswhat is Rather, pirationsof the Tanzanian nation-state. at Ihanzu desiresto linkrainprincipally stakeregarding and Ihanzu-nessis the forging a of making,"tradition," in solidconceptual world.Rainmooring an everchanging Ihanzumen and womenwitha meansto provides making assert historical continuities withtheir meaningful past,as wellas a wayto saywho theyareas a people in thepresent the Ihanzu frevis-a-vis stateand church."Rainmaking," toldme, "is ourtradition" (jadiyetu). quently When discussing Ihanzu men and women tradition, oftenimplyit is about particular ways of doing things, thosepassed from olderto younger normally generations. People are explicitabout what counts as "tradition"-all divinarainmakingactivitiesincludingrain witchcraft, tion,buildingmud and stickhouses,cultivating sorghum and millet,huntingwithbows and arrows, and herding, among otherthings.Followingfromthis,certainthings are routinely in of implicated the category tradition: royal rain stones and rainmaking medicines,diviners'mediand homes. cines,graincrops,livestock, mud and stick Certainpeople and social groupings, too, are explicThe two royalleadersand itlyassociatedwith tradition. the lineagefrom whichtheycome standout as the living embodiments tradition. extension, of By people also claim othermembers the royalAnyampanda of lineageare "traditional."It was, according many,the first to groupto enter Ihanzu following theirlong trekfromtheiroriginal homelandon Ukerewe Island. Forthis (perhapsmythical)

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of clan are considered the and modernity. This reason,members the Anyampanda formulating realmsof tradition more traditional a bounded,unchanging than, say, membersof clans that have that,farfrom ensuggests being Iramba.Rainmaking more recentoriginsin neighboring the categories tradition modernity open to of and are tity, are assistants associatedwithtradition, are members as of continualrenegotiation. selectively By merging past and thelocal vigilante and diviners. group(Nkili), the a of that present, Ihanzu negotiate category tradition Commonto all thingsand personstraditional their is is constantly as open to changebutwhichis presented beconnectionto the powersof the ancestral "Tradispirits. ing outsideof time.As we shall now see, rainwitchcraft tional"people carry theirjobs successfully drawing out by cases providea forum such negotiation: publicspace for a on the spirits' out powers,while the veryact of carrying in which people activelydebate, througheveryday actheirjobs convincesthe spirits continueto make such to of Rainwitchcraft tions,the meaningand merit tradition. otherworldly powers available to them. Furthermore, cases bringabout a if reassertion of resounding, fleeting, historical of giventhe presumed longevity ancestral powwhat ultimately counts as tradition.Importantly, they ers, locals oftenpresenttraditionas if it had a certain sometimes so withnovel additions. theprocess, do In but to back, some would say,to the atemporality it, harking such cases also hintat the local meaning onlyby default, of the verybeginnings time.Here,ironically, Ihanzu conofmodernity. tinueto want tradition-as people the worldoverdo-in those ways anthropologists insist they cannot precisely IHANZU RAINWITCHCRAFT AND THEREASSERTION OF have it: as a reified, essentialized, atemporalcategory. TRADITION "Traditionis what we have always done," people freas for Just the Ihanzuhave conductedrainrites wellovera As sometimes belie quentlyremark. we shall see, practices so thisposition. accused,and expelled century, too have theyidentified, rainwitchesformanyyears.20When rainrites In Ihanzu eyes, modernity opposed to tradition. have failed is Ihanzu see modernthings, to bringrain,or when thereis a drought a few whether material of utterly institutions, or weeksor more,villagewide recentarrivals. rainmeetings artifacts, typesof persons,as relatively (shaloka mbula) On thesegrounds, both Christianity the government and takeplace. It is at thesemeetings, whichall claimare "traare classified "modern."So, too, are the people implias thatrainwitches identified. are ditional," cated in these institutions-preachers, emritual government assistants, Ordinary villagers, leaders, rainmaking ployees, Europeans,and anthropologists-and, and the local vigilantegroup(Nkili)may call such meetlikewise, the "modern" withthem. goods and goodiestheybring administrators ings. Government cannot; theymay and In discussionsabout modernity and tradition, men do organizetheirown villagemeetings (shaloka hathara) and women stress mutually the exclusivenatureof these forotherreasonslikediscussing collection, tax education, and the need to keep them separate.In praccategories, and sanitation.Because rainmaking, rain meetings, and this betweenthetraditional and tice,however, dichotomy rainwitchcraft seen as "traditional" are have matters, they themodernis not as unproblematic Ihanzuwomenand as no partin "modern" affairs. governmental men routinely imply. Rain meetings public,well organized, are well attendthe Duringa 1986 battleovercattle, agricultural peoexcitement and heated ed, and alwaysraise considerable used, to greatefple of Ihanzu, Iramba,and Sukumaland discussion. Villagerswho do not attend are often disknown as fect,a certainSukumavigilanteorganization for suchconsecussed,and sometimes fined, disregarding and Sungusungu againstthe invadingpastoralist Barabaig communalmatters. thesemeetings, quential During anyMaasai.19Immediately after war,the Ihanzu adopted the one who feelshe has something saymaystand,in turn, to theirown versionof this organization, which they call and speak.Otherslistensilently untilthe speaker finhas The local government soon recognized "Nkili." Nkilias an ished and reseatedhimself. This processsometimes lasts appropriate way for villagersto deal with cattle theft. the weeks,or even years.Duringdroughts, same isdays, Since itsadvent,Nkilihas expandeditspurview considersue may be raised repeatedlythroughoutthe season. and is now involvedin almostanything considered ably, Whilerainmeetings aim ostensibly "to discussthereasons "traditional" that goes on withinIhanzu: theft cattle, of for drought," they nearlyalways lead to accusationsof and othervaluables;diviningthe country rain; for grain, rainwitchcraft. and rainwitchcraft. Some alleged rain witches,it transpires, have been forpresent Interestingly purposes, people todayclassidentified divination. "AnAnpreviously vaguely through even thoughitsrecent is ify origin a Nkillas "traditional," for secretto no one. "Tradition," thiscase, has littleto do yampanda clan memberfromthe east is responsible in the drought," went one such oracularpronouncement. withhavingsurvived overthe long run. It turnsout that Othersare accused of engaging questionableactivities. in ancestral above all, makesthings traditional. approval, In sum,people separatetradition Someonemaystandand note,forexample, frommodernity in thatsome perstarkterms.Yet in practicesuch unyielding son was seen wandering distinctions through people's fieldsat night. are impossible maintain.People's behaviors to admitto a Such observances strike will some as odd, plausible, imor ofpossibilities combining, of and remyriad and might might merit or not recombining, further comment. plausible,

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The goal is to reachconsensuson who is responsible forthe drought and how theywill be handled so the rain will return. is rarely It obviousbeforehand who mightbe in accused of rain witchcraft. Moreover, my experience, rain meetings not so much polarizecommunities do but, in true Durkheimianfashion,consolidatethem. This is not so surprising when one considers what is at stake:rethe rain,expunging evil,and, withthat,regenerturning the Ihanzu moralcommunity. ating of The format rainmeetings-usually lengthy, always heated-ensures accusationsare guided more by public concerns than personal animosities.Accusationsresult not fromstructural underlying or tensions, interpersonal from generalized a fear;a fear but,rather, that,facedwith no rain, there is an all-pervasive evil at work within in Ihanzu society. some accusations thesemeetNaturally, aremotivated personaldisputes, people generbut ings by As thisand act accordingly. cases dragon in allyrecognize the public eye week after week, month aftermonth,or even year afteryear, accusations come to follow more beof neatlyexpectedstereotypes who mightconceivably that do not fitthe mold are witch the rain. Accusations dismissed. withwitch-cleansing reportAs rites eventually to actual aremorelikely inform ed elsewhere, "stereotypes than an individual, rather behaviorwhen a community, feels threatened"(Abrahams1994:21). Under such cirto men and women have ample opportunity cumstances, the on reflect who is capable of bewitching rain,and to As consider their possiblemotives. we shallnow see, accuthat hold sway are those in sations of rain witchcraft which the accused are heavilyimplicatedin "tradition" and itstrappings. Case I woman by the name of This case involvesa middle-aged a memberof the royalAnyampandalineage. Mwajuma, sister'sdaughter femalerainmaker's She is the reigning As and is next in line of successionto this royaloffice. such,she reputedly knowledge possessessome oftheritual can Underno circumstances she currently of rainmaking. not use thisknowledge, legitimately anyway. She moved to her husMwajuma grewup in Kirumi. band's village on marrying. When, in the 1980s, she divorced, Mwajuma, now with two young children,returnedto Kirumito live and farmwith her mother.In in She 1992 hermother died. Mwajumaremained Kirumi. than scoresof is relatively poor,thoughnot anyworseoff othervillagers;she has no livestockand, in the yearsI knewher,a virtually emptygrainstore.Thereis nothing unusual in Ihanzu about poor,female-headed particularly households like hers; many women find themselvesin thissituation. she to Mwajumais well liked.However, is rumored be in particular, leave her farming skills, lazy: People say few much to be desired.It thus surprised when, in early at she was mentioned a villagerainmeeting 1994, January as a potentialrain witch. An elderlyman claimed that ratherthan farming, the Mwajuma had been wandering that should she be given village tellingpeople secretly beerand grain, because she could bringrain.Othersstood and publicly confirmed allegations. the She reputedly bewitchedthe rain by pretending she had the powers to falseclaimsabout one's abilities bringit. Makingpatently to control weather, the the people say,angers royalspirits who maysubsequently therain. stop Mwajuma, who was present,remained silent. The femalerainmaker withMwajuma reigning spokeprivately fornearly hour.Mwajumalatertold me she had proman ised no longerto claim she could bringthe rain. But the does not end there. story The following seasonMwajumadid not farm all-a at fact that escaped no one's attention.Villagersworried. Mwajuma,the rumors began,would be jealous of others' or theirpotentialharvests. She mightthus beharvests, witch the rain,people said. Villagersscheduledanother rain meeting.Two days beforethe meeting,Mwajuma Mbulu hastilymoved with her childrento neighboring to District, onlyreturning Ihanzuthe following year. to It is important note thatwhileMwajuma'saccusations were broughtabout by her lack of enthusiasm for thisfactalone does not explainthe accusations. farming, The same season, in the same village, a not-so-well-off elderly man of the Anyisungu clan-a clan of "lesstraditional"Iramba origin-similarly failed to farmhis small parcel of land. Everyone remarked this. But no on one much cared.He was neveraccusedas a potentialrain witch.People feltthatthisman, jealous or not,posed no threat theweather. to Mwajuma's case shows that membersof the royal This is as truefor lineage are accused of rain witchcraft. as it is forthoselikeMwajuma,who stand reigning royals in the requiredgenealogicalposition eventuallyto take ritualoffice. is also trueforothermembers the royal It of at lineagewho are guilty, leastpotentially, association. by As thenextcase shows,thenetis castwiderstill, certain as arealso regularly accused. nonroyals Case 2 In lateJanuary earlyFebruary and rainmeet1995, several ings took place in Kirumito deal with an alleged rain witchnamed Ltketo.An elderly, married man of the Anto yambiluclan, Lfketois of averagewealth.Prior his ache two cusation, ownedfivecows,some goats,and farmed small plots. He generally gets on well with people. Cruassistantfor over 25 cially, having been a rainmaking he assisyears, is one of the threemostseniorrainmaking tantsin Ihanzu. People therefore expecthe knowsa great deal aboutrainmaking. asLiketo's problemsbegan when otherrainmaking that some rain stoneshad gone missing sistants thought was from rainshrine.BecauseLOiketo the last to leave the the he the shrine day before, became the obvioussuspect.

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AmericanAnthropologist * Vol. 105, No. 2 * June2003 thiscase below. First, us consider finalcase,the longlet a thatopenedthisarticle. running saga ofKinguthediviner Case 4 man of the Anyambeu clan, who has, Kinguis an elderly formany years,residedin easternIhanzu. As a diviner he is (maiganga), is one ofthebest.His expertise widelyacfor some yearsnow villagershave knowledged, though been dubiousabout theprecise nature his work. of in 1989 whenhe fellill. Bedifficulties Kingu's began cause diviners thought are themincapableof diagnosing as selves,Kinguvisitedanotherdiviner, is common.The diviner told Kinguhe wouldneed to carry an ancestral out at treeon Kingu'splot,and to do so anoffering a certain nually to appease the spirits. Althoughhighlyunusual, ancestralspirits, said the diviner, residedin the Kingu's tree.Kinguimmediately carried the offering, out the tying sacrificial aroundthetreeas instructed. fully He sheepskin recovered. rains, The that too,wereplentiful year. had abandoned his annual offerings. By 1991, Kingu Very littlerain fell in his village that year. Kingu was called to a seriesof rainmeetings explain.Villagers to demandedthatKingumakean offering appeasethe possito He bly angryspirits. Kingurefused. said that he had no was true) and that villagerstreatedhim sheep (which poorly(a pointpeople contested). Whyshouldhe do anyfor them? thing When drought again visitedthatvillagein 1992 and 1993, villagers began askingfurther questionsabout the realnature Kingu'soffering. of Could it be rainwitchcraft? Some villagers one nightto chop down Kingu's organized tree.They failed,forfearof his medicine/witchcraft and the probablewrathof the spirits. said, Only Kingu,they could remove own witchcraft. his In 1994 villagers demanded that Kingufellhis tree. Obstinateas ever,Kingurefused. Theyaccusedhim ofbethe rain.Kingudid nothingto refute allegathe witching tion. At a fewpoints,in fact,he even insinuated thathe had stoppedthe rainon purposebecause,as he said,peohim. Once again villagersmobilized to ple mistreated chop down his treebut again decided againstit. At anothermeeting, Kinguwas told to leave the village.He refused.When last I visitedIhanzu in 2001, Kinguwas still residingin his village. His tree still stood, the rotting dansheepskinfromhis original1989 offering defiantly from it. gling
DISCUSSION

Beforegoing public, a divinerwas consulted,who conwas allegedlytrying sabotagethe to firmed that Ltiketo rain stonesfromthe rain shrine.A rain rain by pilfering for was day. Lfiketo meeting calledin Kirumi thefollowing was summoned. the cannotenter rainshrine, Becauseordinary villagers to Even the the rainstonetheft provedimpossible verify. of abouttheexactnumber assistants disagreed rainmaking the stonesin the shrine.But,whatever case, the chicken Lfiketo's confirmed oraclehad already guilt. demanded that Liketo returnthe missing Villagers who sat alone, head hung rainstone(s)-and fast.Lfiketo, said thiswouldbe low,in themiddleofthe hostilecrowd, sincehe had not takenthem.His denials quiteimpossible, latefarming year!"yelled this fuelled "We'revery tempers: return rainstones," the one middle-aged man."Just snapped another. For threeexcruciating days this continued.On the third admitted Lfiketo duress, day,showingsignsof severe the stones.He agreedto he had bewitched rainby stealing A pay a fineto appease the spirits. recountof the rainstones supposedlyupped the number by one, further I guilt:Bymundaneor magical proof, was told,ofLfiketo's the means, he had obviouslyreturned stone duringthe all shouldkeep his job butbe more Lfiketo, agreed, night. closely supervised.He was fined three cows and three goatsforhis offence. As thisexampleshows,one need not be a member of the royalclan to be accusedofrainwitchcraft. Those who have privileged accessto theultimate sourceoftraditional are also in dangerof being accused. Threeother powers fell assistants rainmaking similarly victimto rain witchcraft accusations during timein Ihanzu. my Case 3 In 1994, the Nyaha villagecommander the Nkihl of vigilantegroup was accusedofrainwitchcraft. commander The is froma nonroyalclan, and is, by all counts,wealthy, bothin livestock money. and in a rainmeeting Nyaha,a chickenoracletold During thatthe commander had caused the rainto stop.Thiswas allegedlybecause of an outstandingtwo-cowdebt the commanderhad to a powerful Sukuma divinerwho, in turn,was angeredand, thus,used his powersto stop the rain.The commander was absentduring theserevelations but was summonedto anotherrain meetinglater that week. He agreed that, months earlier,he had visiteda Sukuma diviner.But, he said in his defense,he had aldebts. readypaid all outstanding Threats about whatmighthappen Villagers persisted. to the commandershould he continueto lie were only veiled.The commander, shrewdman, eventually a thinly And to pay a fine.In total, agreedto (re)paythe diviner. he paid fourcows and Sh10,000 (about US$30), a small of fraction his totalworth.I will have moreto say about

These rainwitchcraft cases are emblematic the 21 I sat of while in Ihanzu, and of dozens moreI recorded through fromyearspast. They also, I believe, exemplify Ihanzu on rainwitchcraft. raiseseveral thinking Collectively they issues.First, personalwealthplayslittleor no rolein rain witchcraft accusations. People of poor, average, and accusedofruwealthy standing maybe, and are,regularly the rainthrough witchcraft. is gender decisive Nor a ining

Sanders * Reconsidering Witchcraft 347 I factor. know of manywomen,not just Mwajuma (Case of the 1), suspected bewitching rain.Whatthe accused do have in common is theirvariedbut well-known associationswith"tradition." The accused fallinto threebroad categories. First are ritualleaders,those whose job it is to bringrain. Those rainare equallycapable of withtheknowledge bringing of on it.As is commonelsewhere thecontinent, withholding of traditional intimate powermay be used for knowledge Hauenor ill (Feierman1990; Gottlieb1989:254ff; good stein1967; Kitereza 1980:43; Schapera1971:99). Byextenall secrets, sion, since theymay share some rainmaking acof members the royallineageor clan maybe plausibly cases Most of the rainwitchcraft cused of rainwitchcraft. like in Ihanzu thathave come to myattention, Case 1, inThe second disvolve royalAnyampandaclan members. of cernible category people includesthosewithlegitimate access to esotericrainmaking (or sometimesillegitimate) clan members butwho arenot necessarily royal knowledge, Thesemen assistants. Herewe findrainmaking themselves. some knowledge about bringingrain and are possess well positionedto ruinit. Thirdare those with therefore access to ancestralpowersand so-calledtradiprivileged relatedto rainmaktional institutions only peripherally membersof the local ing. These include office-holding vigilantegroup,Nkili (Case 3), as well as divinerslike Kingu(Case 4). It is thesepeople's access to, and control over, traditionalancestralpowers that allows for their members plausibleaccusations.Divinersand seniorNkilh know far more about mattersmedicinal and allegedly thanaverage villagers. other-worldly powersoftradition is The point worthstressing thatall those accused of rain witchcraft in Ihanzu eyes,deeplyimplicatedin are, access to and controlover All "tradition." have privileged The otherworld. factthatthese the powersofthe ancestral vilaccused suggests are people, and not others, regularly on evokingand reflecting a conceplagersare practically tual packagetheyenvisageas tradition. Hence,theprocess in rain of identifying witches Ihanzu leads not onlyto imfineson people and theiroccasionalexpulsionbut posing also providesmen and women with a public forum-an space of sorts-in which theyacgenerative imaginative, and negotiatetradition's conceptualtertivelymarkout is rain.And "negotiate" key:Recallthatthe local vigilante of added to the repertoire group,Nkll, was only recently accusato Prior 1986, a rainwitchcraft thingstraditional. tion against the now-commander (Case 3) would have fate been most unlikely.The commander'sunfortunate now agree,at least forthe moment, impliesthatvillagers All with what many told me: that Nkiliis "traditional." sites trialsare highlycreative told,Ihanzu rainwitchcraft are of in whichcollective imaginings tradition regenerated and reconfirmed through publicaccusations. a we Beforegoing further, mustrevisit crucialpoint of about Ihanzu imaginings tradition-that theysimultaThis is because the Ihanzu neously evoke modernity. as frametraditionand modernity conceptualopposites. Forthisreason,it is instructive note thatthosenotgento servants, erally accused of rain witchcraft-government shopkeepers, police, and the like-are those mostclosely associated with modernity locally conceived. To be as sure,such people are frequently suspectedof practicing other sortsof witchcraft, thatused to gain and mainlike tain material wealthand politicaladvantage, well as to as them (Sanders 1999b, in press). This witchcraft destroy (also called "tilogi")operatesin the "modern"sectorand rain witchfrom"traditional" people claim it is distinct craft. Different witchcrafts different for things.So-called modernpeople are differently situatedconcerning tradiTo and tionalpowerstructures struggles. assert one's conand traditional nectionto tradition powersis to open up of the possibility that power'sabuse. To deny such conat the nectionsquicklyrenders possibility, the veryleast, extremely unlikely. there is anotherway In discussingrain witchcraft, comesintoplay:becausethetradition-modernity modernity is the product dichotomy, thoughtoday pervasive, itself of the colonial imagination.Recall that it was colonials not and Christians, Ihanzu, who gave formand value to as of The thesecategories. very category "tradition," many scholarshave noted, is itselfthe ideologicalproductof conThus, insofaras Ihanzu rain witchcraft modernity. Ihanzu and tradition conjuresmodernity, jurestradition, Thinkis rain witchcraft categorically partof modernity. about the other.Butdoes about one requires thinking ing as of and seeingrainwitchcraft ethnicidentity facets traand to attest thepervasiveness not ditiontherefore simply of ideologicalclaims?Simply persuasiveness modernity's is stated, speakingto tradition, Ihanzu rainwitchcraft by all? after to modernity not really speaking is For Not exactly. adoptinga dominantdiscourse not in of it. the same as critiquing Speaking terms "tradition" and "modernity" saysnothingof the moralevaluationof is Ihanzu rainwitchcraft patently eithercategory. partof It By primodernity. is not aboutmodernity. commenting on comments moderon rainwitchcraft marily tradition, whatit is not. The processof defining nityonlyby saying conditions but tradition providesnecessary not sufficient of Much less formakingsense of local forms modernity. of does it offer sustained critique modernity. any covet in Ihanzu todayactively In manycontexts, fact, Like peoples everywhere, than criticize rather modernity. theirown of they want "the indigenization modernity, culturalspace in the global scheme of things" (Sahlins 1999:410). This is not to say thatthe Ihanzu findmoderfor unproblematic, theydo not.What'smore, nityentirely sometimesthey even express their discontentthrough not rain witchcraft (see Sanders 1999b, witchcraft-just in press).My point is simplythat the Ihanzu are 2001a, on a modernity, modernity their seekinga meaningful the thisimplies ongoing for For as own terms. them, many, and of (Sahlins1993:20). negotiation modernity tradition Ihanzu rain witchcraft As I hope to have demonstrated,

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AmericanAnthropologist * Vol. 105, No. 2 * June2003 culture-s. has become modSimilarly, modernity recently ernit-ies and 1993a; Eisenstadt 2000); (Comaroff Comaroff 1996); (Blim1996; Gibson-Graham capitalism-s capitalism, socialism-s(Hann 1993); and now globalism, socialism, globalism-s (Tsing2000). It is not just forfun,of course, thatanthropologists suchthings. do Norarewe simply beInstead,the intention and alwayshas is, ing mischievous. thoseeverelusive"socialfacts" we been,to nuancefurther visions,it appears,situneasilyin our constudy.Unitary worldwherefragmentation, and temporary heterogeneity, a decideddistaste master for narratives all the rage-as are well theyshould be. It is here,at this particular analytic thatwe anthropologists consider juncture, might seriously witchcraft" workingour disciplinary magic on "African and "the African into plurals. witch,"and turnsingulars No longer, submit, we allowone to standin for I can many.
TODD SANDERS Department of Social Anthropology,Univer-

playsa pivotalrole-albeit a one-sidedrole-in thesenegotiations. discussionraisesseveralbroaderissues. The foregoing it thatthe topicof "tradition" Mostimmediately, suggests in and beyond(Berattention Africa is worthy analytic of and Gable 2000; Guyer nal 1994; Errington Gewertz 1996; 1996; Kahn 1993; Kratz1993). Thisis notbecause it representsa bygoneera-it does not--butbecause it appears, to withglobalization, become moresalientand moreuniin "Tradition" todaybeingcommodiform itsstructure. is fledin similar waysthe worldover,oftenlinkedto both and politicsof difference. is in It the conceptualization in this sense that "tradition" becomingdifferent uniis in but isomorphiformways: vastlydifferent contents, as cally similarin its conceptualization "local," "authenand cannot tic,""unchanging," so on. As such,"tradition" or analytically. be ignored, practically Secondly,scholarsneed not shy away fromlinking to "tradition" "witchcraft," even if broaderdisciplinary concerns-concernswith de-Otherizing Other;with the theWest;withvalorizing portraying and Others critiquing as active subjects-hint thatwe mightbe wise to do so. and traditiondoes require Naturally, linkingwitchcraft carefulattention the issue of representation, avoid to to the notionsof "primitiveness," "irrationreinscribing very But thisis no ality,"et cetera,thatwe seekto dismantle. reasonto giveup thegamealtogether. Above all else, in makingsense of African witchcraft, we cannot succumbto theoretical somnambulism. While in manyplaces and manycases, the witchcraft-critiquesthesisgivesus additionaltheoretical modernity purchase overthe postcolonialAfrican worldswe seek to describe, we mustguardagainstpregiven answers what "African for witchcraft" mean.Theseareempirical theoretical must not and remainto be demonstrated rather than asquestions, sumed.Underscoring pointis all the morecrucialjust this now, at a timewhen scholarsworking say,EastJava, in, are justbeginning arguethatwitchcraft witchcraft to and attacks"can be understoodas an expressionof the tensions and contradictions globalisation of and social transformation" and Conner 2000:88). Bearingin (Campbell mind anthropology's in interest witchcraft, longstanding and the variedways we have made sense of it over the thatthe anyears,we would do well to remindourselves swers provide we and todayare,as ever, partial provisional. This articlehas argued that Ihanzu rain witchcraft than to modernity. passing,I In speaksmoreto tradition have mentionedother types of Ihanzu witchcraft that to Yet speak more directly modernity. the real world,as are anthropologists fond of saying,is farmore complicated. Thereare stillotherIhanzu witchcrafts (like "love have little or magic,"to name one) thatby local reckoning to or The nothing do with"tradition" "modernity." Ihanzu have many witchcrafts that speak to many things.My hunchis thattheyarehardly alone here. For some timenow, anthropologists have been keen on turning intoplurals. Culture singulars longago become

FreeSchool Lane, Cambridge CB2 3RF, sityof Cambridge, United Kingdom

NOTES I would the and Acknowledgments. liketo thank U.K.Economic of and School Economics of for University London, theLondon different of research; theTanzania and Comfunding portions this mission Science Technology for and for me (COSTECH) granting research clearances.am grateful theparticipantsboththe I to at 16thAnnual Satterthwaite on and Colloquium African Religion and on in Ritual, theSymposium Contemporary PerspectivesAnfor and Weiss infor comments, toBrad thropology their engaging me EricGable,PeterGeschiere, Adeline viting to the latter. Albert Andrew Schrauwers, Masquelier, Walsh, PhilipThomas, and 's reviewers offered invaluable West, AA four Harry anonymous comments a preliminary of thisarticle. peopleof on draft The as deserve thanks their for Ihanzu, always, unflagging hospitality andtheir concern I "get right." that it I alone responsiam ongoing blefor shortcomings remain. that any 1. Fieldwork carried from was out 1995, August 1993-May July2001. 1999, September andJuly-August 2. These studies conceive "modernity" of insingular, monorarely lithic terms. ismultifaceted varies differand in Rather, modernity entgeographic historical and no settings, following single trajecvol. See issues Dwedalus of (2000, 129,no. 1) and tory. thespecial Public Culture vol. (1999, 11,no.1).
3. Anthropologists in working the Asia-Pacific Regionhave reSocial Research of the Council,theU.S. NationalInstitute Health,

feat. Whilesomeauthors an accusareport actualrisein witchcraft tionsand beliefs focusinsteadon local (Colson 2000:341),others in press;Geschiere 2000:19; Moore and Sanders2001). The idea

4. Documenting witchcraft's historical is trajectoriesno simple

2000, Rodman1993, Munn 1990, Geschiere 1998a, Nihill2001, and Besnier 1993.

some works and cently produced stimulating onwitchcraft sorcery Watson Ellen and For concerned 1987; 1993). works (e.g., Stephen more with and madirectly translocality, "modernity," mystical levolence thisregion, Golomb in see 1993,Wessing 1996,Eves

ofan and (Comaroff Comaroff 2000:316, 1999, experiences increase

is 1935:458-460), rangements not new (e.g.,Richards thoughit is sometimes as it presented though were. 5. On politicsand the state,see Ciekawy1998; Droz 1997; Ellis Geschiere1988, 1996; Harnischfeger 1993:470ff; 2000; Niehaus and Warnier 1998; Niehauset al. 2001; Rowlands 1988:121;West see 1997, 2001; on legal institutions, Fisiyand Geschiere1990, and Rowlands and 1989,Geschiere Fisiy 1994,Niehaus2001; Fisiy

thatwitchcraft increases novelpolitical economic with and ar-

Sanders * Reconsidering Witchcraft 349

on consumption and the economy,see Apter1993; Geschiere and Koningo1993; Masquelier1999,2000, 2002; 1992; Geschiere Parish2001; Sanders1999b,2001a, 2001b; Shaw 1997; on sport, see Royer 2002; and on thepopularpressand cinema,see Bastian 1999. 1993,2001; Meyer for of 6. Whilesomehave argued themodernity witchcraft, others of the have demonstrated witchcraft modernity exploring by witchcraft-by-any-other-name phenomena found in the West: moralpanics and satanicchild abuse in Europeand the United States(Comaroff 1997; La Fontaine1998),theroleof spindoctors in U.S. politics(Geschiere theories the in 1998b),and conspiracy in UnitedStates and elsewhere and Sanders (Harding Stewart press; and Westin press). 7. "Ihanzu"is whatlocals call the land on whichtheylive,while the termused to describe simply themselves--Anyihanzu-means the"thepeopleofIhanzu." chiefuntil1962 8. The male ritual leaderwas also a government whenthe office abolished. ritual leaderwas never was The female she officially recognized, though has nonetheless playedan imporand tantritual roleforas farbackas oralhistories written records takeus (Adam1963;Kohl-Larsen 1943:290). I 9. By "rainmaker" mean thosepeople thought capable of conand ends. the trolling weather legitimately to positive The BackofBeyond," 10. Wyatt, (c. 1928),"Mkalama: n.d. Rhodes s. MSS House,Oxford, Afr. 272. are identical thoseconducted to 11. Theserainofferings virtually For of la see for illness personal (ipolyo ndwala). examples thelatter, Adam1963:21-23, and Sanders 1999a. Obst 1912:115-117, 12. Hichens: "Mkalama Annual Report 1919/1920,(April 16, (hereafter TNA) 1733/1. 1920)," p. 7, TanzaniaNationalArchives n.d.: "MkalamaDistrict Book,"p. 9, SOAS.Virginia Adam, Wyatt of on de1963b,"Draft report Isanzufor community development of held at the partment Tanzania,"p. 9, unpublished manuscript and British of Science(BLPES), London. Library Political Economic 13. Hichens, MkalamaAnnualReport 16, 1919/1920, (April 1920), p. 4, TNA1733/1. 14. The Ihanzu do not differentiate betweenwitchlinguistically craft sorcery; and botharecalled"filogi." 15. While rain witchesallegedly benefit producing by grainfor I heardofthembenefiting sellhome consumption,havenever by whichin anycasewouldbe impossible in on inggrain themarket, thisregion, and giventhelackofmarkets infrastructure. Officer's District 16. District 1920-1931,"subfile "Singida Reports, "AnnualReport, District." 10,TNA967:823. 1927,Singida p. is I 17. This figure based on a randomsurvey conductedin 194 in in 1994. households four (23 villages subvillages) October 18. This profoundly rockedIhanzu, not because anyone cared muchaboutthechiefship, becausepeoplefeared newgovbut the ernmentwould prohibitthe "chief"frommakingrain (Adam turned blindeyeto rainmaking. a 1963:15).The newgovernment 19. Formoreon SukumaSungusungu vigilante groupssee Abrahams 1987 and Fleisher 2000. rainwitches generally are and 20. Infamous remembered, I have recorded detailsof numerous the such cases,some datingto the 21 1993 and 1995,I attended suchcases.Alearly1930s.Between is withreferences rain literature replete to thoughthe Africanist on there witchcraft, arefewsustained analyses thetopic. REFERENCES CITED Abrahams, G. Ray in AfAfrican 1987 Sungusungu: Village Vigilante Groups Tanzania. fairs 86:179-196. 1994 Introduction.WitchcraftContemporary In in Tanzania. Ray ed. African Studies Centre. 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