The Trials of Mrs. K.
Seeking Justice in a World with Witches
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The Trials of Mrs. K.
Seeking Justice in a World with Witches
In March 2009, in a small town in Malawi, a nurse at the local hospital was accused of teaching witchcraft to children. Amid swirling rumors, “Mrs. K.” tried to defend her reputation, but the community nevertheless grew increasingly hostile. The legal, social, and psychological trials that she endured in the struggle to clear her name left her life in shambles, and she died a few years later.
In The Trials of Mrs. K., Adam Ashforth studies this and similar stories of witchcraft that continue to circulate in Malawi. At the heart of the book is Ashforth’s desire to understand how claims to truth, the pursuit of justice, and demands for security work in contemporary Africa, where stories of witchcraft can be terrifying. Guiding us through the history of legal customs and their interactions with the court of public opinion, Ashforth asks challenging questions about responsibility, occult forces, and the imperfect but vital mechanisms of law. A beautifully written and provocative book, The Trials of Mrs. K. will be an essential text for understanding what justice means in a fragile and dangerous world.
In The Trials of Mrs. K., Adam Ashforth studies this and similar stories of witchcraft that continue to circulate in Malawi. At the heart of the book is Ashforth’s desire to understand how claims to truth, the pursuit of justice, and demands for security work in contemporary Africa, where stories of witchcraft can be terrifying. Guiding us through the history of legal customs and their interactions with the court of public opinion, Ashforth asks challenging questions about responsibility, occult forces, and the imperfect but vital mechanisms of law. A beautifully written and provocative book, The Trials of Mrs. K. will be an essential text for understanding what justice means in a fragile and dangerous world.
192 pages | 6 x 9 | © 2018
Anthropology: Cultural and Social Anthropology
Political Science: Comparative Politics
Reviews
Table of Contents
Prelude
Introduction
Introduction
1 The Most Abhorrent Crime
2 The Name of the Witch
3 A Fair Forum?
4 A Witch in the Family
5 The Case of the Kasitos
6 When a Witch Confesses
7 A Child’s Tale
8 Judgment Day for Mrs. K.
9 Human Rights, Norwegians, and the “President of Witches”
10 “Material Dreaming” and the Ways Witchcraft Stories Work
11 Truth and Consequences: The Work of Witchcraft Stories
12 In Defense of Witch Trials
Acknowledgments
Appendix 1: The Malawi Journals Project
Appendix 2: Alice_090312
Appendix 3: Bibliographic Essay
Works Cited
Index
Appendix 1: The Malawi Journals Project
Appendix 2: Alice_090312
Appendix 3: Bibliographic Essay
Works Cited
Index
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