Witchcraft and space: a theoretical analysis of unseen political spaces in Ghana and Cameroon

Abstract

This article addresses the application of the concept of space to witchcraft in Africa. Throughout colonial history, and still today, efforts to mediate and control witchcraft and witchcraft-related violence have focused on the manipulation of physical spaces, such as villages, shrines and witch camps. While critical theories of space and power are increasingly relevant in a number of fields, the exploration of these concepts may be somewhat limited in their application to witchcraft-related violence and witchcraft as a lived reality in Africa. In this article, the theoretical ability of Western concepts of space to analyze the phenomenon of witchcraft will be considered, looking at the relations of space and power in colonial and postcolonial Africa. This analysis brings into question the modernist foundations of these concepts and explores the role of witchcraft in the governance of Ghanaian and Cameroonian spaces and imaginations.