Witchcraft and Sorcery

Witchcraft is commonly defined as a malevolent magical practice  which is at least in part ,inherent in the make-up of an individual.People are born to be witches or become witches through an evil substance within them which they have little or no control over.Sorcery is similar in its effects but it is learned rather than inherited.The distinction within Anthropology rests on a similar distinction made by the Azande people of Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo and recorded by Evans-Pritchard in Witchcraft,Oracles and Magic among the Azande (1937).

The Azande are captivated by witchcraft.They understand many things as having two causes one will be physical cause and other will involve sorcery or more often witchcraft.If termites eats the supports from a grain storage bin and it falls and kills someone one level of explanation will be that termites ate the supports .But that is not enough for the Azande.They need to explain also why it fell at that particular time on that particular person.This can only be explained by malevolence on the part of someone else: a witch will have placed that person there at that time and caused the bin to fall upon.

This is an extreme case because the Azande are  bound up in witchcraft beliefs and witchcraft accusations but it gives a kind of explanation offered in African societies that accept witchcraft as a part of everyday life.Witchcraft and sorcery are still practised in many societies though not openly.