Abstract:
There has been a resurgence of witch accusations in Malawi which in its new
form includes child-witch accusations. This research secured detailed information on
social outcomes of child-witch accusations by studying the discourses and practices of
Abundant Life Church Ministers. The paper argues that the practices and discourses
of the church ministers in dealing with child-witch accusations have to some extent
contributed to the negative social outcomes. While this study considers cultural and
sociological explanations of the child-witch accusations, it does not intend to discount
the religious values on belief in witchcraft.
This study used an ethnographic approach to arrive at the findings. I applied
anthropological research methods in collecting data including; interviews, participant
observations and a small survey.
The most profound findings of the study were that exorcism on the accused
child by church ministers at times confirmed to the community that a child is a witch,
resulting to a child living with a “witch” label for life. Secondly, suffering and evil in
the Central Region of Malawi is majorly attributed to interpersonal causal ontologies
of which child-witchcraft is primary.
The foundations for child witch accusations majorly included; socialeconomic
factors, rumors and suspicions, behavior of the child, series of misfortunes
following a child or community, and incurable sicknesses. The social outcomes of
child-witch accusations included; banishment, teasing and bulling, stigmatization,
increased child-witch accusations, mistreatment of the child, rape, insecurity of the
community, lose of trust in church ministers and at a very small scale there was an
indication of conversions.
This research is important because it seeks to address the issue of child-witch
accusations from an African worldview level—as Samuel Kunhiyop rightly noted,
“Although many Africans are Christians, their worldview has not been transformed”
(2008, 385). Therefore, the research came up with recommendations; first, a
comprehensive exegesis and contextualization of scriptures addressing witchcraft is
needed. Secondly, the doctrine of suffering and sin should be adequately addressed in
Bible studies and pulpits, as the research indicated that there is a correlation between
suffering and child-witch accusations. Thirdly, advocacy and social actions in
protecting the accused children is urgently needed in the central region of Malawi.
