Some 40 years ago I was at a loss when I was summoned as an expert witness in an indigenous tribal court to defend a witness accused of witchcraft. The experience shows how the psychiatrist's work requires knowledge of an individual's spiritual framework.

Abstract The purpose of this chapter is to examine the role religion and ritual in facilitating access security over land among migrants peri-urban Zimbabwe. based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out Malawians settled Lydiate, an informal settlement Zimbabwe’s Norton area. study shows that though they are not only sources land, ritual-based forms authority—the Nyau cult witchcraft—play a matt...

Abstract The belief in witchcraft and sorcery is a significant cause of intentional homicide Kenya. Moreover, those who kill people suspected being witches often employ as defense for their actions the so-called provocation by argument: was purportedly committed under influence sorcery. One major legal difficulty that Kenyan courts have frequently been invited to resolve thus question whether a...