Belief in Witchcraft Widespread in Africa

A new Gallup poll found that belief in magic is widespread throughout sub-Saharan Africa, with over half of respondents saying they personally believe in witchcraft. Studies in 18 countries show belief varies widely (ranging from 15 percent in Uganda to 95 percent in the Ivory Coast), but on average 55 percent of people polled believe in witchcraft.

As might be expected, the older and less educated respondents reported higher belief in witchcraft, but interestingly such belief was inversely linked to happiness. Those who believe in witchcraft rated their lives significantly less satisfying than those who did not.

One likely explanation is that those who believe in witchcraft feel they have less control over their own lives. People who believe in witchcraft often feel victimized by supernatural forces, for example, attributing accidents or disease to evil sorcery instead of randomness or naturalistic causes. 

A cultural belief in witchcraft has wider implications for Africans as well, from law enforcement to aid donations to public health. In Africa, witch doctors are consulted not only for healing diseases, but also for placing curses on rivals. Magic (or at least the belief in magic) is commonly used for personal, political, and financial gain.

African belief in witchcraft has also led to horrific murders and mutilations in recent years. In 2008, a mob of hundreds of young men killed eight women and three men in two villages in rural western Kenya. The victims were accused of witchcraft — having cast spells that lowered the intelligence of the village's children. Some of the suspected witches and wizards were hacked to death with machetes, or had their throats slit before their bodies were burned.

In East Africa, at least 50 albinos (people with a rare genetic disorder that leaves the skin, hair and eyes without pigment) were murdered for their body parts in 2009, according to the Red Cross. An albino's arms, fingers, genitals, ears, and blood are highly prized on the black market, believed to contain magical powers and are used in witchcraft.

In a continent of dark-skinned Africans, albinos are often the subject of fear, hatred, and ridicule. The practice of using body parts for magical ritual or benefit is called muti. Such attacks are particularly brutal, with knives and machetes used to cut and hack off limbs, breasts and other body parts from their screaming victims — including children.

While personal belief in magic and witchcraft may seem harmless, the actions some people take based on those beliefs clearly are not. 

Jackpot of Minerals Discovered in Afghanistan Good for Afghanistan?

Nearly $1 trillion in minerals were reportedly just “discovered” in Afghanistan. Will this huge discovery actually benefit the unstable country, though?

The NYTimes recently reported that the US just “discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials.”

The minerals include iron, copper, cobalt, gold, lithium, and other critical industrial metals.

This could make Afghanistan a major mining capital of the world.

“An internal Pentagon memo, for example, states that Afghanistan could become the ‘Saudi Arabia of lithium,’ a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and BlackBerrys.”

The financial worth of this find is much more than Afghanistan’s current Gross Domestic Product, which is only about $12 billion.

However, while this may seem like a great advantage for Afghanistan, issues of corruption, terrorism, unbalanced wealth distribution, international competition for such minerals, lack of experience in this industry, and overall instability in the region could make matters there worse rather than better.

What comes to mind immediately is an analogy to someone winning the lottery. I have heard that studies show people who live rather unstable lives (with alcohol problems or major family problems) see those amplified after winning the lottery (whereas those with more stable lives do not). Could Afghanistan’s problems just be amplified by this new discovery?

Whether or not this is actually the discovery the NYTimes paints it to be has also been questioned.

Blake Hounshell over at the Daily Beast questions the ‘discovery’ aspect of this story given its timing (the war in Afghanistan is now the longest war in US history and it seems the tide may be turning to the Taliban’s favor) and the fact that the documents indicating the existence of these minerals are actually from 2007 and earlier (but supposedly just stumbled up by the Pentagon).

Whether or not this is actually a new “discovery” is questionable, but even more questionable seems to be whether or not this discovery will actually help Afghanistan. We will have to wait and see.