Representing African Reality through Knotty Terms

Abstract

In researching African realities anthropologists very often have to face the difficulty of the use of some very problematic terms such as “ethnic” (in expressions like “ethnic music”, “ethnic clothing”, etc.), “tribe” and derivatives, or “witchcraft” and “sorcery”. Such terms are still used but the discomfort that many anthropologists feel when using them is undeniable; they are, undoubtedly, “knotty terms”. To what extent can African anthropology do without these terms? What must our attitudes regarding these terms be if we really cannot give them up? These are some of the questions I will be addressing in this article, giving special importance to the troublesome term of “witchcraft”. It is clear that anthropological practice in African societies cannot be separated from general dynamics of alterization processes. As I argue in the article, part of the problem of knotty terms lies in the way we view and treat the Other through determined alterization strategies such as synecdochization, exoticization, undervaluation, overvaluation, misunderstanding and exclusion. The interest in reflecting on the “knotty terms” issue lies in the fact that far beyond their epistemological implications for anthropology, they have an important ideological and therefore social dimension as well.