Abstract
The belief that illness, death and misfortune of all sorts is frequently caused by the deliberate interventions of individuals with special powers or magical knowledge is pervasive throughout Melanesia. As a result, sorcery and witchcraft beliefs and practices exert a powerful influence on many aspects of day-to-day life, as well as being significant vectors for community tensions, conflict and violence. Moreover, rather than disappearing under the influence of Christianity and modern life, sorcery and witchcraft practices and beliefs are proving extremely resilient, with many claiming that they are increasing and spreading. In recent years, most of the attention given to the problems arising from sorcery and witchcraft beliefs and practices has been on the attacks and killings of accused sorcerers and witches. Three widely publicised events in 2013 and 2014 brought these forcibly into public focus. In Mount Hagen in 2013 a woman was tortured and then burnt alive in front of hundreds of onlookers, including members of her community and police officers. Later that year, a female teacher in Bougainville was publicly tortured and beheaded. Then, in November 2014, two men in Vanuatu were publicly hanged in a community hall following accusations that they had been practising witchcraft. However, sorcery and witchcraft beliefs and practices also give rise to a range of social problems that are not as visible, including the retarding of economic development, poor public health, undermining of social cohesion, incentivising crime and creating insecurity.
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