Defying the Gaze: Exodelics for the Bewitched in Sukumaland and Beyond

Abstract

Since the late seventies the Sukuma ofnorthwest Tanzania have observed an increase inwitchcraft practice as well as an extension ofthe list of potential witches. Theyparticularly blame the Ujamaa resettlementprogram of the Tanzanian government, whichimposed mono-centric village structures uponthe agro-pastoral farmers. Suddenly gone werethe distances that used to be crossedsystematically as a token of solidarity betweenhomesteads. The national policy caused thebewitching curse called ``gaze'' to intensify,while it deprived neighbors of their mainanti-dote to witchcraft suspicions. Thatanti-dote generally refers to an exchange ofgifts that disarms the reproaching gaze. Forlack of a better term I will call its effectexo-delic: the bewitched must transcendthe surrounding world, which has become toointrusive to manifest itself as an outside; heor she must make that world appropriable again,for example by appreciating its `exotic' side.Inflatory discourse on the occult manages to doso, in Sukumaland and far beyond. Collectivedrinking is equally effective in remedyingfeelings of bewitchment. Those remedies appearto draw their meaning from the one figure thatis anti-thetical to the witch: the dancer, whodefies the collective gaze. So I could observeon my journey to the invisible village ofGamboshi.