abstraction

bovine idiom

cattle clock

cattle complex

contextual interpretation

disease

ecological time

English intellectualist tradition

ignorance

lineage time

magic

mystical notion

oecological space

oecological time

ordered anarchy

secondary elaboration

segmentary lineage

segmentary opposition

segmentation

structural time

time

witchcraft

nationality

British

occupation / innovator as

anthropologist

structural-functionalist

scientist

scientific organization

American Academy of Arts and Sciences

innovator in the field of

cultural anthropology

university teacher

political scientist

social anthropologist

medical anthropologist

structuralist

anthropology

African anthropology

The Nuer

Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic Among the Azande

African Political Systems

Nuer Religion

is a methodological intervention which, after having been done, requires that we must in the end replace what we have taken away if we are to understand it.

if for convenience we make abstractions in studying some institution we must in the end replace what we have taken away if we are to understand it. And the means to be used to reach an understanding of institutions' They are those employed by the anthropological fieldworker who studies social life from both outside and inside, from the outside as anthropologist and from the inside by identifying himself with the members of the society he is studying. (e.evans-pritchard in intro to mause 'gift'' : vii-viii)

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is, for the Azande, ultimately caused by witchcraft, sorcery, or failure to follow a moral rule.

For example, while the Azande of the Sudan acknowledge that misfortunes, including disease and death, may have a variety of causes, they attribute almost all of them to witchcraft, sorcery, or failure to follow a moral rule (Evans-Pritchard 1937). The Azande make a distinction between witchcraft (mango) and magic (ngua), the latter term covering not only magical procedures but also herbal and other medicines. Whereas witchcraft may be caused by the unconscious hatred, envy, or greed that an individual may feel, magic functions as a means of counteracting witchcraft through the conscious manipulation of medicines.

is like knowledge, often socially determined.

Perhaps Levy-Bruhl's most important contribution to sociology is to have shown that ignorance, like knowledge, is often socially determined and that primitive thought is unscientific because it is mystical and not mystical because of an inherent incapacity to reason logically'

Evans-Pritchard showed that magic was a rational way of ordering society, but he did this at the expense of a complete analysis of mystical mentality.

is, for the Azande, part of the ethico-juridical system.

De Heusch maintains that for the Azande described by Evans-Pritchard, [magic] is part of the ethico-juridical system. This hypothesis also holds for voodoo, in which one finds destructive magic (such as sorcery) that it held to be legitimate. The oungan, seer and exorcist, is supposed to reestablish justice by working to detect and punish the ensorcellor, and, in any case, by 'sending him back the evil.' (Huron 1987a:262-263).

is primarily not so much a means of controlling nature as of preventing witchcraft and other mystical forces operating against human endeavor by interfering with the empirical measures taken to attain an end.

For Evans-Pritchard. magic is primarily not so much a means of controlling nature as of preventing witchcraft and other mystical forces operating against human endeavour by interfering with the empirical measures taken to attain an end.

is the belief that certain aspects of life can be controlled by mystical forces or supernatural powers.

For Evans-Pritchard, magic is the belief that certain aspects of life can be controlled by mystical forces or supernatural powers.

is a pattern of thought which attributes to phenomena supra-sensible qualities which are not derived from observation, or cannot be logically inferred from it, and which they do not possess.

Patterns of thought which attribute to phenomena supra-sensible qualities which . . . are not derived from observation, or cannot be logically inferred from it, and which they do not possess' (1956: 12).

Oecological space,' like Evans-Pritchard's'structural space,' is defined in terms of distance. (Munn 97)

is a politico-legal situation whereby regulation is strong but because wealth and power are diffuse enough through the whole system, although there is a kind of free-for-all, it is one which is regulated by the society and therefor does not produce great disparities.

The social life of the Nuer is strongly regulated. Every man knows what is due to him. A tally of compensation for insults and injuries is known, any transaction in rights is affirmed by a corresponding transfer of life-stock. If a debtor fails to pay, his creditor can walk into a strange camp, unhitch a beast of corresponding value, and safely walk away without friends of the debtor lifting a finger to harm or stop him. Regulation is there, but power is diffused through the whole system. Each man has to defend his own rights. Many other tribes are organized on principles that seem to be something of this self-help kind, but when there is really a free-for-all, the strongest wins, and contests of individual strength are daily events. The elementary principle of self-help usually produces great disparities of wealth and power. But here, with the Nuer, the strongest does not win. There is little accumulation of wealth. The cattle, goats, and sheep are evenly distributed among households. There is no accumulation of power. The phrase ordered anarchy seems to describe the situation. There is no social contract, no agreement to limit individual liberties so as to allow power to accumulate with one or two people for the sake of the good order.

is the azande recognition that while accidents may happen (primary elaboration), the further explanation for 'why me, why now'' Involves witchcraft.

Evans-Pritchard developed this term to Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande (1937) Evans-Pritchard discusses the notion of Azande witchcraft as a 'closed system' 'We may recall here some of the material in the introduction to this module. Evans-Pritchard speaks of the kinds of situations where witchcraft would be called upon to explain misfortune. He tells of a boy who injured his foot on a stump of wood on a path, and the subsequent failure of the boy's cut to heal. While Evans-Pritchard said that the Azande knew nothing of scientific medicine (this was in the 1920s... today the situation is somewhat different), he did emphasize that they knew perfectly well that one must exercise care in negotiating forest paths and that sharp pieces of wood cause cuts. Elsewhere, Evans-Pritchard elaborated on the Azande notion of witchcraft as a 'second spear' like the one which is necessary to bring down an animal who has been injured by a primary hunter. Witchcraft does not answer the question of 'how' so much as the question, 'why me, why now'' (net) As we have seen, Evans-Pritchard says that the Zande know perfectly well that it is the nature of old granaries to fall when one of the legs rots or is eaten by termites. Witchcraft would be used to explain why it fell when a particular person was sitting under it. Thus, the fact that granaries fall down owing to natural causes does not form a challenge to the closed system. (net)

is a time which is geometrical rather than qualitative.

is a motion or process (rather than consisting of static units) made up of the 'rhythms' of basic activity cycles linked to natural cycles (such as the daily cattle movementasnd the seasonal passages between villages and camps) as well as each season's distinctive 'tempos'.

Evans-Pritchard takes time's passage to be 'perceived' (49:103) through a lens of cultural concepts referring to activities (i.e. via the time-reckoning 'system'), rather than experienced through immersion in the activities. But time also consist for him of the 'rhythms'of basic activity cycles linked to natural cycles (such as the daily cattle movementasnd the seasonal passages betweenvillages and camps) as well as each season's distinctive 'tempos' [cf here the influence of Mauss (127... see 55b:13f)]. In this sense time is understood as motion or process, not static units or concepts functioning to reckon time.

is, along with space, determined by the physical ambient. That said, the values that time and space embody are only one of many possible responses to it and depend also on structural principles, which belong to a different order of reality.

Ultimately most, perhaps all, concepts of time and space are determined by the physical ambient, but the values they embody are only one of many possible responses to it and depend also on structural principles, which belong to a different order of reality . . . In describing Nuer concepts of time we may distinguish between those that are mainly reflections of their relations to environment, which we call oecological time, and those that are reflections of their relations to one another in the social structure, which we call structural time. Both refer to successions of events which are of sufficient interest to the community for them to be noted and related to each other conceptually. The larger periods of time are almost entirely structura, because the events they relate are changes in the relationship of social groups (1944:94)

is, for the Nuer, relating the position of the sun to the cycle of activities involved in caring for cattle.

This practice, which is found in many cultures, is a model of time that stands in relationship to local cultural models, such as the Nuer relating the position of the Sun to the cycle of activities involved in caring for cattle (Evans-Pritchard 1940, 101).

is perceived through a lens of cultural concepts referring to activities (i.e. Via the time-reckoning 'system'), rather than experienced through immersion in the activities.

is a practice involving unconscious psychic powers while sorcery carries the conscious intent of causing harm.

For the Azande, witchcraft involves unconscious psychic powers emanating from a black swelling, located near the liver. By contrast, the Azande refer to sorcery as the performance of rituals, the uttering of spells, and the manipulation of organic substances, such as herbs, with the conscious intent of causing harm.

E.E. Evans Pritchard

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