Physically Speaking...

The Azande believe that mangu (magic) is a physical force inside one’s body.

When I say force, I mean both in the physical body and the two separate souls (Soul I will touch on in a later entry). When Azande speak of magic, they are talking about an actual witchcraft-substance in the body, which has actually been found in autopsies performed post mortem. It is found just beneath the xiphoid cartilage, attached to the liver. Anthropologist Sir E.E. Evans-Pritchard believes that this magic substance is simply “the small intestine in certain digestive periods” (2), but to an Azande person, it is evidence of witchcraft. This witchcraft-substance resides in any witch’s body (witch referring to both male and female witchcraft carriers).

I’m not so sure what to make of this. My rational mind is telling me that it is pure coincidence that there is a physical substance because Evans-Pritchard says it is a natural thing of digestion. Science is battling with my sense of wonder in this case. For an Azande person, where science is mainly limited to what a person can observe and infer in day to day life (that termites deteriorate wood, for example), this substance which has no physical explanation could be the physical manifestation of witchcraft sense it does not appear in every body. (If it is not found post-mortem, then the recently departed was not a witch) However for myself, I instantly tried to find the rationale behind it, provided in short by Evans-Pritchard.

However, this evidence of witchcraft makes me think that perhaps their belief in magic is not just a supernatural, mystic belief, but also a practical, naturalistic belief system. They believe that magic is something natural and integral to their world, and thus it is an accepted part of their culture.

Evans-Pritchard, E.E. Witchcraft Oracles and Magic among the Azande. Clarendon P: Oxford. Print.

Evens, T.M.S. Anthropology as Ethics: Nondualism and the Conduct of Sacrifice. Berghahn Books: New York. 2008. pp. 200-213.