Witchcraft and Cultural Resilience: A Swahili Perspective from Safari ya Lamu

Speaker: Ma Jun (Shanghai International Studies University)

Abstract

As the oldest known mystical ritual in human history, witchcraft has not retreated from human history with the advancement of technology but rather continues to coexist with human communities in an unimaginable resilience. Whether in Asia or Africa, witchcraft still holds a place in modern societies dominated by technology. 

Taking East Africa as an example, since the introduction of Christianity to Ethiopia in the 4th century AD, monotheistic beliefs have become a norm in East Africa today. However, elements such as animism, ancestor worship, idolatry, and witchcraft, which should conflict with religious doctrines, have not disappeared in the region with the spread of Islam or Christianity. On the contrary, these traditional orders have been embedded within local communities, thus shaping a unique socio-cultural structure specific to East Africa. 

In the novel Safari ya Lamu (The Journey of Lamu), Kenyan writer John Hamu Habwe presents a fascinating story through the protagonist Musa, depicting how a young man from the Kenyan hinterland struggles against the authoritative representative of the local traditional order - mchawi (the wizard) - in the Swahili region, which belongs to a different cultural community. 

This article conducts a textual analysis of the conflicts between the protagonist Musa and the wizard Mkuki in the novel, combining the historical development of witchcraft and indigenous African traditions in the Swahili region, and discusses the powerful resilience of African traditional orders in the face of the impact of foreign cultures.  Based on the social resilience of traditional orders represented by witchcraft in Africa, this article also discusses the further “Africanization” trend of Swahili culture in the future and the role of traditional orders in the modernization process in East Africa.

Keywords: East African witchcraft; Swahili cultural resilience; traditional socio-cultural orders; Swahili textual analysis; cultural hybridity