Oracles, chieftaincies, and witchcraft accusations in south-western Togo

Abstract

Despite the colonial and post-colonial attempts to eradicate the use of oracles from local practices of conflict resolution, in south-western Togo oracles’ verdicts still are widely used by chieftaincies as an instrument to deal with witchcraft accusations. Via the analysis of the role that oracles have in the trials held by local chieftaincies, this article explores how oracles’ verdicts, despite being relevant for witchcraft accusations, are not uncritically taken as proofs, but are renegotiated and “domesticated” by the people involved in the trials. Taking into account witchcraft accusations, chieftaincies were able to preserve and reinforce their social and political role, skilfully moving between different legal orders and emerging as the main institution that solves conflicts in a context permeated by legal pluralism.

Keywords:

• oracles
• chieftaincies
• witchcraft accusations
• south-western Togo

Notes

1. Governor Bonnecarrère also established the “Councils of Notables”. The notables were chosen by the administration from lists of candidates elected by district chiefs, village chiefs, canton chiefs, and family heads of the various administrative districts. The notables, especially in southern districts, in fact belonged to those évolués families representing the economic and commercial elite of the colony, and, after World War II, they began to play an important part in national politics. As recalled by Gayibor (2011, 227): “Il est évident que la participation des autochtones à la gestion de leur territoire était une tactique politique pour gagner la confiance et l’estime des éléments ‘évolués’ susceptible d’entretenir un climat favorable à la présence française”. Their ancillary role became evident when the administration in the 1930s increased the taxes, provoking one of the most important protests (also for the central role played in it by female Togolese venders) in the colonial era. Since their demands were not taken into account by the administration, the notables (in French) were attributed the unflattering nickname of “not Able” (in English: incapable).

2. Togo National Archive. Dossier 12, 2 APA (1936–1966)

3. van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal (1990).

4. van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal (1996).

5. At the time of a chief's death, the potential candidates for replacement try to escape and have to be “captured” and “forced” to accept against their will.

6. For studies on Ewe religions, see Spieth (1906), Debrunner (1965), Riviere (1981, 1990), de Surgy (1988), Auge (1988), Meyer (1999), Greene (1996), and Brivio (2009).

7. For a deeper analysis of the concepts of adze, dzo, and gbetsi, see Meyer (1999).

8. Since the 1990s, and thanks to the work of Comaroff and Comaroff (1993) and Geschiere (1995, 1997), anthropology saw a renewed interest in witchcraft discourses, well testified by the large amount of studies devoted to exploring the role and the reshaping of witchcraft accusations in globalized economies. See, for example, Austen (1993), Parker (2004, 2006), Rowlands and Warnier (1988), Schatzberg (2000), Shaw (1997), Bellagamba (2008), and Quaranta (2006).

9. See also Piot (2010).