Barbara Meier & Arne S. Steinforth 
Spirits in Politics 
Uncertainties of Power and Healing in African Societies

Acknowledgements 7

Preface

Todd Sanders 9

Part I: Assessing Uncertainties of Power and Healing

Power and Healing in African Politics: An Introduction

Barbara Meier, Victor Igreja & Arne S. Steinforth 15

Spirits in Politics: Some Theoretical Reflections

Stephen Ellis & Gerrie ter Haar 37

Witchcraft and the Colonial Life of the Fetish

Florence Bernault 49

Part II: Curing Personal Misfortune

Remedies of Restoration: Evocation of Potency in Zanzibari Everyday Life Politics

Kjersti Larsen 73

Spirit Idioms and the Politics of Context

Thomas G. Kirsch 91

Witchcraft as Subtext: Deep Knowledge and the South African Public Sphere

Isak Niehaus 115

Part III: Mending Uncertainties of Power

The Spirit in the Voting Booth: Democracy and Cosmology in Malawi

Arne S. Steinforth 135

Spiritual Modernization: Fighting ‘Paganism’ in Igboland

Johannes Harnischfeger 157

Part IV: Reconciling Post-Conflict Societies

The Politics of Spirits, Justice, and Social Transformation in Mozambique

Victor Igreja & Limore Racin 181

Poro Spirits and Political Transformation among the K??-M?nde of Sierra Leone

John M. Combey 205

Powerful Spirits and Weak Rulers: Prophets’ Authority in Acholi Conflict

Barbara Meier 223

Appendices

Contributors 249

Index 253