Unit 1: Genetics & Evolution

Functions of Tiv Witchcraft

In anthropology, as you will see in a later unit, the attitude a culture has in dealing with their supernatural world can be a key factor in whether they have a religious or a magical approach to the supernatural. If people feel that they can not force the supernaturals to do their bidding, but must instead approach them humbly and can only petition for favors, than the attitude is religious. In this sense, Christians have a religious attitude, since Christians believe that God cannot be controlled or even influenced, though He can grant petitions (prayers) since He is believed to be all-powerful. Alternatively, a people may believe that they are on a more equal footing with the supernatural world, and that people (or at least certain people) possess the ability and knowledge to control/influence events through supernatural means. This second attitude is the magical attitude. Magic is thus an assumption or attitude about the supernatural world. Magic can be both positive (to benefit people, including heal them) or it can be negative (to harm people, including kill them.) Negative magic is termed witchcraft by some anthropologists, including Bohannan. [This may be an unfortunate term to use in anthropology, as it is often confused by Christians to mean Satanism, or the worship of the devil; that is NOT what the Tiv are doing.]

In many cultures which take a magical approach to their supernatural world, the same people capable of positive magic are also capable of negative magic. This is at least in part true of the Tiv, and the excerpt from Return to Laughter focuses on Tiv witchcraft.

In order to do a functionalist, etic analysis of any belief or practice, you first need to be clear on the emic rules for the practice in the particular culture. For Tiv witchcraft, the emic rules are things the Tiv could easily tell you about witchcraft if they were willing to talk to you about the subject.

Emic Rules (the Form)

In the article on the Tiv, you were told that a witch caused Amara's problems with childbirth, and her eventual death. At a minimum, you know that witches can cause problems in childbirth, and death. In fact, the Tiv (in 1950) believed that witches were capable of causing any illness, personal accident, and death. Witchcraft was the primary cause of these events, at least in older children and adults.

While all adults were believed to be capable of positive magic (hence healing), only adult men were believed to be capable of witchcraft. The older a man got, the more likely it was that he was also powerful as a witch. In the article, when Amara first began having problems in giving birth, it was the women (particularly the older women) who were called in to help. It was believed that the women were the major possessors of magic to help women in childbirth. In the Tiv view, magic and what we might think of as practical medicine (such as herbal teas etc.), were one and the same. In point of fact, many of the herb-based remedies tried by the different women had probably worked in the past to ease difficult deliveries. (After all, modern medicine depends heavily of plant-based remedies initially discovered by magical practitioners living in tribes.) In Amara's case, the remedies did not work. It was only when it was obvious that the remedies would not work that witchcraft was suspected, and four suspects (all male of course) were "lined up."

The Tiv did leave open the possibility that a woman could practice witchcraft, but Bohannan could find no examples of female witches. However, she herself was eventually suspected of being a witch, particularly after she attended Amara's funeral and burial (where no woman was supposed to be) and also when she continued to visit Yabo after his ostracism.

In the Tiv culture, witchcraft was likely to be practiced against you (or against someone you loved) by close male relatives. This was in fact the only category provided in the article. It was possible that a member of one homestead might practice witchcraft against a member of another homestead, though it this case it was usually against a relative by marriage. There is little evidence that the Tiv believed members of neighboring tribes were involved in witchcraft aimed at the Tiv.

Witches practiced witchcraft for one of two reasons. The most common was in the attempt to settle unsettled disputes, particularly if the man felt an injustice had been done to him or his family. While you could say (as Americans often do) that witchcraft was practiced through greed, I would caution you on your word choice. Greed has a negative connotation in English, indicting that a person wants more than what they deserve. Hence to apply this term to another culture is to use ethnocentric language--a big "no-no" for this course! (Even within our culture, greed is in the eye of the beholder: labor unions are always negotiating for what they think their workers deserve, but outsiders might --and do--accuse the workers of being greedy.) In the Tiv culture, there was a belief that disputes should be settled in a just fashion so that both sides were satisfied with the outcome. If one side refused a "just" settlement, perhaps because they wanted more, than the other side might be forced into witchcraft. In settling the dispute and healing the ill person, the elders would normally be called in to mediate the dispute, that is, find a solution that would satisfy both sides. In fact, in Amara's case, the elders were eventually called, but refused to come until after Amara's death.

In this instance, Amara herself was held to be blameless by all. The dispute, remembered by everyone, originally involved Amara's brideprice. As indicated, brideprice is a payment made by the groom's family to the bride's family, and compensates the bride's family for the loss of her labor (since she moves to the groom's homestead) and also the loss of her children (since they belong to the groom's family). The negotiations for the brideprice took place between the men of the groom's side (including the groom) and the bride's side (primarily Amara's father Lam and his brothers Yilabo and Yabo). Amara, as a woman, had no say in the brideprice.

Clearly, there were various motives for one of the men to practice witchcraft. Both families were upset at the amount of the brideprice, the groom's family thinking they had paid too much, the bride's side believing they had received too little. Amara's father and uncles also had their own problems. The fact that the eldest brother Yabo had take Amara as his marriage ward meant that he received the largest share of the bride price. Normally, Lam as the father would receive the largest share. Lam presumably wanted a larger share of brideprice so that he in turn could use it in payment toward a wife, as his wife had died. Yilabo, the remaining brother, also believed that his share of the brideprice should have been larger. While Amara's husband, supported by his age-mates, immediately removed suspicion by paying more brideprice, and Lam was generally held to be too weak to be a likely witch, Yilabo and Yabo ultimately tried to call the elders to settle their dispute. When that failed, they were on their way to a diviner to determine who was the witch when Amara died.

The fact that the witch allowed Amara to die for so little cause indicated he might be the second kind of witch: one with an evil-heart, who did not have a just cause to commit witchcraft, but who did so because he enjoyed doing so.

An evil-hearted witch might also attempt to steal flesh from his victim, and would not only eat it, but might feed it to others. Anyone unknowingly eating human flesh would than owe the witch a victim, owe the witch a life. The Tiv believed cannibalism to be a repulsive, abhorrent practice. It was for that reason that they believed evil-hearted witches might practice it. There is no evidence that at any time Tiv practiced cannibalism. When Bohannan continued to visit Yabo after his ostracism, it was believed that she might be eating meat (possibly human flesh) served her by Yabo's remaining wife. In fact, at her first visit, she was accompanied by the 12 year old son of an elder in the homestead where she was residing. When he ate the meat stew served by Yabo's wife, he became violently sick to his stomach and vomited. This was further proof, if any was needed, that Yabo was indeed the witch, and had been serving the boy human flesh. Why else would a healthy 12 year old boy vomit? When Bohannan continued to visit Yabo, people in her homestead began avoiding her to avoid becoming Yabo's next victim. Not a good way to do ethnography! [A good example of an ethnographer's being assigned a status and role which made ethnography difficult.]

The punishment for witchcraft, at least the evil-hearted sort, was ostracism. Yabo was allowed to stay where he was, but his entire homestead (except for his first wife, who chose to stay) moved. Yabo was free to go where he wanted, but no one would see him or hear him or recognize his presence in any way. If you think about going through even a single day in this manner, you can see how severe the punishment was. Traditionally, rehabilitation was possible, but Yabo (in this case) would have to go around making many humble, repentant speeches before people would accept him again. If it was decided that he was responsible for more deaths, his chances for rehabilitation would be slim, and he might even be killed.

Etic Analysis: the Functions

Witchcraft in the Tiv is part of their religious beliefs, and as such has many of the functions of any religion in any culture. Here are a few of the functions of witchcraft in the Tiv, expressed in good functionalist language!

  1. Witchcraft functions to explain events which are otherwise inexplicable, particularly why people become ill, have accidents, and die. Humans apparently have a psychological need for explanations as to why their loved ones become ill, have accidents, and die. Many Christians and Muslims (among others) believe that these events happen because of God's plan, which humans cannot understand. The Tiv believe these events happen because of witchcraft.
  2. Witchcraft provides a method to change events, or at least blame other humans (not Gods) for negative events. Psychologically, humans seem to themselves function better if they can actually do something about negative events, potentially change them. (This is perhaps why the magical approach to the supernatural enjoys popularity even in cultures like ours, that tend to take a religious approach to the supernatural.) It may also be psychologically satisfying to blame other humans for our own misfortunes (certainly one would assume so in our own litigious culture.)
  3. Witchcraft helps to maintain social order, in several different ways. People are motivated to settle disputes fairly and with due consideration for each other's point of view, since failure to settle the dispute may force someone to seek justice via witchcraft. Some anthropologists have pointed out that in American culture, we don't so much settle disputes as physically leave them behind us. If in America if you can't get along with a spouse, you can get a divorce; with your boss or co-workers, you can get a new job; with your parents, you can leave home; with your kids, you can kick them out at age 18; with your employees, you can fire them; with your neighbors, move, etc. The Tiv do not have that luxury. Men are born in a homestead where they will stay all their lives. Women move to their husband's homestead at marriage, and stay there the rest of their lives. Tiv associate with the same group of people within their homestead and with neighboring homesteads all their lives. Disputes must be settled in a way that both sides feel is just.
  4. Witchcraft supports the male and age system of authority. The elders (older men) mediate all disputes, and are respected and listened to in part because of their ability to influence events supernaturally. The same can be said for the heads of homesteads and the heads of families.
  5. Witchcraft also promotes social order by providing a method to punish those individuals who can never compromise, who must always have their own way regardless of the cost to others, who are arrogant and abuse their authority. Such men (like Yabo) will eventually be accused of witchcraft, and the elders will refuse to come and help them. They will be convicted and punished.

With all these positive functions of witchcraft, any misguided agent of cultural change, entering the Tiv culture and attempting to convince the Tiv that there were no witches, might do great damage to the people and the culture.