Africa's traditional beliefs - including ancestor worship, divination and witchcraft - continue to dominate its spiritual influences. Readers in search of a better understanding of the continent will be enriched by this book's timely exploration of sub-Saharan Africa's natural philosophy. The author's meticulous research reveals that, whereas technology-driven western societies prefer to rely largely on logical explanations, many Africans continue to obey their intuition, trusting in images, dreams and divination to rationalise misfortune and illness. African magic explains why so many Africans understand the relationship between people and unfortunate events not through the western concept of chance in the case of accidents, or germ theory in the case of illness, but through belief in witchcraft. The title records a collection of true stories which illustrate this traditional belief system, placing them in their contemporary and historical contexts.
Included are the famous Malawian diviner whose prophecies were considered so accurate that people flocked from neighbouring countries to consult him; a group of western-trained Mozambican psychologists who successfully refined cross-cultural therapy by working with traditional healers to combat post-traumatic stress syndrome among child soldiers; Ghanaian and Zimbabwean 'witches' living in a nightmare world where popular belief becomes their reality; and a Zambian archbishop whose attempt to embrace traditional African beliefs provoked serious conflict within his Christian church.
- ISBN10 0143527355
- ISBN13 9780143527350
- Publish Date 10 October 2010 (first published 2 November 2002)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country ZA
- Publisher Penguin Random House South Africa
- Imprint Penguin Books (South Africa)
- Edition 2nd ed
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 237
- Language English