TY - BOOK ID - 5348948 TI - Witchcraft, violence and democracy in South Africa. PY - 2005 SN - 0226029735 0226029743 PB - Chicago The University of Chicago Press DB - UniCat KW - Witchcraft KW - Violence KW - Democracy KW - Sorcellerie KW - Démocratie KW - Case studies KW - Social aspects KW - Cas, Etudes de KW - Aspect social KW - South Africa KW - Afrique du Sud KW - Social life and customs KW - Moeurs et coutumes KW - #SBIB:39A73 KW - #SBIB:39A10 KW - #SBIB:39A11 KW - Etnografie: Afrika KW - Antropologie: religie, riten, magie, hekserij KW - Antropologie : socio-politieke structuren en relaties KW - Political aspects KW - Démocratie KW - Black art (Witchcraft) KW - Sorcery KW - Occultism KW - Wicca UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:5348948 AB - How does democracy fare when the people governed insist they live in a world with witches? If the government of a people afflicted by witchcraft refuses to punish witches, how does it avoid becoming alienated from the perceived needs of its people or, worse, seen as being in league with witches? In Soweto, South Africa, the constant threat of violent crime, the increase in black socio-economic inequality, the AIDS pandemic, and a widespread fear of witchcraft have converged to create a pervasive sense of insecurity among citizens and a unique public policy problem for government. In 'Witchcraft, Violence, and Democracy in South Africa,' Adam Ashforth examines how people in Soweto and other parts of post-apartheid South Africa manage their fear of 'evil forces' such as witchcraft. Ashforth examines the dynamics of insecurity in the everyday life of Soweto at the turn of the twenty-first century. He develops a new framework for understanding occult violence as a form of spiritual insecurity and documents new patterns of interpretation attributing agency to evil forces. Finally, he analyzes the response of post-apartheid governments to issues of spiritual insecurity and suggests how these matters pose severe long-term challenges to the legitimacy of the democratic state. ER -