Risk, Envy and Magic in the Artisanal Mining Sector of South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo

Nik Stoop and Marijke Verpoorten

Development and Change, 2020, vol. 51, issue 5, 1199-1224

Abstract: Scholars largely agree that witchcraft beliefs in sub‐Saharan Africa remain virulent. The ‘modernity of witchcraft’ is said to thrive on friction between the local moral economy and new socio‐economic realities. This article focuses on the appeal of witchcraft beliefs in the artisanal mining sector of South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo. It argues that the ‘do‐or‐die’, ‘zero‐sum’ and ‘caught‐in‐the‐middle’ context of artisanal mining provides fertile ground for witchcraft beliefs, and underlies the cross‐cultural similarities of such beliefs as documented in the handful of studies on witchcraft in the artisanal mining sector. Whereas previous studies provided a thick description of witchcraft beliefs and practices, this study relies on both qualitative and quantitative data from a sample of 469 artisanal miners in a mining town in South Kivu. The analysis confirms the ‘modernity of witchcraft’ thesis, but also nuances it, and provides further insight into the ‘rationale’ of witchcraft beliefs and accusations in the context of artisanal mining.

Date: 2020
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