Magic and the Supernatural - Lancaster University

102
Magic in an African Context
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intellectual bent, different goals and compliance principles are spelt out for the
exploration but almost all share the conviction that the western phenomenon
should be attributed to a primitive past. Thus, the only way in which the
phenomenon can be better understood is to study contemporary manifestations of
the phenomenon in modern ‘primitive’ African societies. 2
The foregoing proclivity breeds a diversity which, in the final analysis, is
united in the imperative of defining exactly what the concept to be explored stands
for. The question in this regard is: how is the concept of magic to be defined? The
question thus posed seems to envisage a straightforward answer but the complexity
involved begins to emerge when one considers the fact that it is impossible to say
exactly what happens when a magic is performed (for it would not be magic if
what happens is explicitly open to everyone’s understanding). The complexity
implicit in the definition of the phenomenon under consideration makes it pertinent
to proceed by way of descriptive analysis rather than striving to present an exact
scientific definition. The foregoing, I suppose, clarifies the cogency of the
(descriptive analysis) methodology adopted in dealing with the phenomena here.
To proffer a meaning of the concept by means of descriptive analysis, I ask: how is
this phenomenon manifested? In other words, what are its patterns of its
occurrence in human societies? To answer this question, I would attempt to clarify
why some manifestations are described as magic. But in attempting this, I would
have to be both particularistic (by making reference to the African context with
which I am conversant through upbringing, everyday contact and conscious
reflection) and comparative (by making reference to the possible difference of this
particularistic conceptual scheme from the dominant western conceptual scheme).
In conventional western usage, magic refers to the attempt to influence nature
by supernatural means. In this understanding, one notices a dimension which is of
serious importance in any comparative endeavour, namely: the distinction between
the natural and the supernatural. Such a distinction seems inappropriate within
some (if not all) African conceptual framework. 3 A definition of magic can be
gleaned from An Essay on Magic edited by Ramsey Dukes. There, magic is
defined as
a technique by which the human mind attempts to operate upon
its world. As such it is similar to Art, Religion and Science, but
note that the term ‘its world’ is meant to embrace not only the
physical universe but also all phenomena, objective or
subjective, which do not respond to direct control. 4
To show how magic differs from Science, it is contended that the first
difference to note between Magic and Science stems from the subjectivity of
feeling when compared with logic…. Science recognises an objective body of
truth, or at least accepted dogma, and not even the most consistent work will be