News

UK: “The Torso in the Thames: Imagining Darkest Africa in the UK” by Todd Sanders

In the chapter “The Torso in The Thames: Imagining Darkest Africa in The United Kingdom,” Todd Sanders described the 2001 investigation surrounding the discovery of a torso belonging to “a young black boy found floating in the River Thames” (2005:126).

Sanders began the chapter by describing the case’s development over the following two years. Through his summary, Sanders considers the consequences of the police-media engagement surrounding the investigation. More specifically, he draws the reader’s attention to four sequential consequences–the homogenization of an African image, the supposed moral bankruptcy of this artificially unified culture, their perceived Western infiltration, and finally the role anthropologists play in the public sphere.

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India: Drive against witch-hunting

In order to spread scientific knowledge on basic healthcare techniques as well as preventing witch-hunt cases in upper Assam, Mission Birubala, a voluntary trust set up for launching massive awareness against practicing of occultism and witch-hunting, has started a series of sensitization programs in some selected areas of Jorhat, Golaghat and Tinsukia districts.

In one such programme, renowned anti-witchcraft activist Birubala Rabha said here on Tuesday that she along with her associates will try their best to make the people think on scientific lines in day-to-day life instead of resorting to occult practices during any kind of disease or epidemic.

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Papua New Guinea: Papua New Guinea woman accused of witchcraft tells of villagers’ knife attack

Papua New Guinea woman Mary tells Amnesty International how she was attacked after the death of a child in her village, in PNG’s highlands region. Locals suspected witchcraft and blamed her for the death. Non-government organisations are working to end sorcery-related attacks in a country suffering an epidemic of violence.

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Saudi Arabia: ‘Bewitched’ maid held at airport

Saudi airport police men arrested an Asian housemaid flying back home after seizing money concealed in bread and hair inside a cucumber with the aim of practicing witchcraft, a newspaper reported on Thursday.

“Authorities said she was stole the hair from someone here with the aim of casting a magic spell after arriving home,” the paper said without mentioning where in Saudi Arabia the maid was arrested.

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USA: ‘I killed them because they are witches’: Man charged with killing girlfriend, her daughter with a hammer inside Queens home

A Queens man has been charged with bludgeoning his girlfriend and her daughter to death inside their home Wednesday morning.

Cops say 44-year-old Carlos Amarillo called 911 just after midnight saying, “Two females are dead, they were assassinated, hurry, they are dead. I killed them because they are witches, I want the police to kill me. I killed them with a hammer.”

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Nigeria: Ritual Killing Saga – Police Arraign Driver for Kidnapping and Stealing

Paul, a driver who was accused of being a kidnapper and ritual killer by a woman in his area, was on Monday, arraigned before a Somolu Magistrate’s Court on two counts of kidnapping and stealing.

USA: Latoya Ammons, Indiana Mother, Claims Demon Possession, Authorities Corroborate

When Indiana mother Latoya Ammons reported that she and her three children had been possessed by demons, local authorities stepped in to investigate.

Over the course of investigations that included police questioning, hospital visits and psychiatric evaluations, several authorities confirmed there was something unusual about the Ammons’ case.

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South Africa: Muti alleged to be used in house burglaries

Residents are worried about the recent spate of house burglaries in the village. On Saturday night alone, six families reported that their homes had been broken into and burgled.

Ms Petunia Nonyane said she went to bed around 22:00 and when she and her family woke up on Sunday morning, a window had been smashed. She added that the perpetrators used muti to make them fall into a deep sleep so that they didn’t hear anything.

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USA: When black magic failed, Muslim had wife shot dead

Suspected wife killer Kashif Parvaiz sought help from a black magic company in having his wife die in Pakistan where he believed the government was not likely to question the death of the woman, who wound up murdered on a Boonton street, according to pre-trial testimony Thursday.

County Assistant Prosecutor Matthew Troiano wants the judge to declare admissible at trial the “prior bad acts” that Parvaiz allegedly engaged in before the actual death of his spouse in August 2011.

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Indonesia: Politics, Witchcraft and Myth

Things grow heated following The Washington Post’s comment on the President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s published memoir, claiming Yudhoyono to be the first Indonesian president who publicly acknowledged his belief in witchcraft.

All in all, Yudhoyono’s belief in witchcraft in his autobiography cannot be defined as justifying his fear of black magic or constant use of sorcery. Going much deeper, Yudhoyono’s admission reminds public of how politic in Indonesia is closely related to irrationality, such as witchcraft, magical power and myth. The president is not alone. A lot of politicians have encountered similar experiences or even counted on witchcraft or magical power for their political interests.

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