Magic and the Supernatural - Lancaster University

Magic in an African Context
Uchenna B. Okeja
Abstract
The phenomenon of Magic has been a recurrent decimal in African consciousness. 1
Even the wave of globalization which has made it possible for people within Africa
to share in humanity’s demystification of this phenomenon has not been able to
calm the tempest of belief in and fear of this phenomenon. The extent of the belief
manifests itself in forms ranging from media stories (Nigerian home videos for
example), stories (in the Newspapers) of magical infliction of injury and cure of
same, miracle workers in both churches and other places of worship, placement of
curses through some mysterious ways to witch-hunting and execution. Though not
new, the belief in this phenomenon has been somewhat on the increase in many
parts of Africa in recent years. This seems to be a contradictory reality because
economic advancement and education which has visibly touched more parts of
Africa today than some decades ago are supposed to lead to demystification of this
belief. This paper seeks to do two things: 1) to inquire into the nature of this belief
with a view to establishing why certain modes of conceptualisation of the
phenomenon do not make sense with the African context 2) to analyze the truth
value of this belief with a view to showing what the impacts of this belief is/are on
contemporary Africa. The argument of this paper is that the deep seated belief in
the phenomenon of magic, though outside the realm of science, since it can neither
be rationally (or logically) comprehended nor empirically proven (that is,
convincingly demonstrated), has led to dysfunctional political, religious, social and
economic symmetry which have bred dire consequences for the African society as
a whole.
Key Words: Magic, supernatural, belief, African, religion, dysfunctional.
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1. Conceptual Clarification
The mention of the concept of magic conjures varying associations and feelings
in different people. To some, it is just not worth the trouble to subject the intellect
in our age and day to the excruciating pain of exploring, let alone, thoroughly
investigating such phenomenon because it is just a thing of the pre-modern (or
primitive) world. To people with this kind of disposition towards the subject
matter, the concept of magic is just a means by which pre-modern (or call them
pre-scientific) people explained happenings beyond their knowledge. Besides this
disposition to the subject matter, there is another disposition which insists that a
critical exploration of the issue of magic is a worthwhile exercise. Within this
group, the difference lies in the approach to the exploration. Depending on the