Soccer, science, and sorcery: causation and African football

Michael. G. Schatzberg

Africa Spectrum, 2006, vol. 41, issue 3, 351-369

Abstract: This article treats two modes of political causation. First, the contemporary scientific mode that most social sciences simply take for granted and assume, quite unthinkingly, to be universally applicable and valid in all circumstances. Second, because the discussion uses African materials and empirical examples drawn from the realm of football, the article also explores a mode of causation based on the active manipulation of supernatural forces that in much of Africa is usually called witchcraft or sorcery. The essay begins with a general examination of how these two modes of understanding causation play themselves out in African football with examples drawn largely from the 2002 World Cup. It then presents a more focused analysis of one match between the national sides of Uganda and Rwanda that occurred in 2003 to demonstrate the interplay of science and sorcery in a more 'controlled' manner.

Date: 2006
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