Seeking meaning: an anthropological and community-based approach to witchcraft accusations and their prevention in refugee situations

The authors' hope that this paper will be a valuable contribution in understanding of witchcraft in refugee situations. This paper, however, departs from a classic anthropological approach to witchcraft in one important respect. Where most anthropologists describe and explain witchcraft accusations, this paper seeks to find ways to minimise accusations and the harm that they cause; the relative powerlessness of the vulnerable individuals most often accused, and the consequences that they suffer. The last section of this paper is an account of different community-based interventions that NGOs have used to help reduce the number and severity of accusations.