Witchcraft, Sorcery, Violence: Matrilineal and Decolonial Reflections

AUTHOR(S)
Salmah Lawrence
Culture

In this chapter, a version of which was presented at the June 2013 conference Sorcery- and Witchcraft-Related Killings in Melanesia: Culture, Law, and Human Rights Perspectives, the author discusses witchcraft and sorcery in the Milne Bay context, specific to communities in and around Alotau and the surrounding bay area, and some of the islands in the China Strait. The author is also concerned with the law and human rights perspectives surrounding much of the discussion of the recent sorcery- and witchcraft-related violence in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The argument is made for decolonising both the discourse and the formulation and implementation of policy. This chapter concludes with what is so obvious to most Papua New Guineans that it is taken for granted: the choice is not, and never will be, either culture or modernisation. It is both culture and modernisation. Policy formulation, therefore, has to be undertaken within this context.

Research Type(s)
Book Chapter
Submitted by Almah Tararia
March 29, 2022
Published in
2015
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