Sorcery in an Australian Tribe

Abstract

This article compares how sorcery operates among the Lardil of Mornington Island, Northern Queensland with beliefs and practices in other Australian tribes and then examines several relevant theoretical issues. Sorcery has been examined with a cosmological, or sociology of perception, approach by Evans-Pritchard (I937) and with a relationship approach by Marwick (I952, I965). In theory there is nothing hindering one from using both these and other interpretations simultaneously. In this article I use the relationship approach, concentrating on the relationship between sorcerer and victim, because} although the relationship approach has often and fruitfully been used to analyze sorcery and witchcraft in African tribes, it has never been used for an Australian tribe. That sorcery has not received much attention from present day Australianists is surprising because its occurrance in other parts of the world, especially Africa, has. It was often mentioned, though usually briefly, in the early ethnographic literature on the Australian Aborigines. Spencer and Gillen (I899) describe different sorcery techniques (e.g., bone pointing and singing weapons and wounds) among the tribes of Central Australia. They mention some cases of social conflict (e.g., marital disputes) culminating in sorcery and also describe how obtain mystical power and counteract some sorcery practices. Warner (I937) describes sorcery among the Murngin and presents several case histories collected from self-confessed sorcerers. Elkin (I 946) discusses men who were believed to possess exceptional mystical powers, but (Elkin I938:308) was more concerned with healers than with reputed evil doers, which may account for his claim that sorcerers are very rare. My fieldwork at the Gulf of Carpentaria (Mornington Island, Doomadgee, Aurukun, and Weipa) in Northern Queensland and my reading of the ethnographic literature suggest that Elkin's claim is erroneous. Perhaps he means that the role of medicine man is institutionalized, men rarely admitting to being sorcerers. Nevertheless, belief in sorcery is widespread among the Australian Aborigines and death and misfortune are often attributed tO sorcery. Inter aliv, the many reports of inquests support the view that sorcery is ubiquitous, for they are held tO determine what caused the death of the deceased and who was the sorcerer responsible. I describe below Lardil sorcery beliefs and practices and some case histories. Thirty seven sorcery cases are analyzed for the relationship of the reputed sorcerer and believed victim in terms of the kinship system, in generation terms, and in terms of the local social organization. Suspected sorcerers fall into two main categories (affines and classificatory brothers) and conflict between people standing in these relationships often revolve around women.