Who turned off the electricity-over the magic of the southeastern border of Cameroon

In the series "Life-size Africa / Frontline Africa", up-and-coming researchers and skilled field workers will tell you about Africa that the mass media did not convey, especially life-size daily life and frontline local information. This month is "Life-size Africa" ​​(cooperation: NPO Afric Africa).

Introduction

In the summer of 2014, the author, who was collecting information about the city of M, a town in Cameroon, came across a shocking online article.

In the article entitled "Cameroon: Dissatisfied magicians interfere with development projects", the power generation facility set up by the electric power company was stopped by the magicians with "mysterious power", and M city was long-term. It was written that he was hit by a power outage. Such an event is actually not so surprising. This is because it is often heard locally as a rumor. Relationship entanglements often develop into cursed / cursed witchcraft turmoil, often resolved privately through discussions between the parties and the mediation of authorities such as village mayors and elders.

However, I was shocked because a copy image of an administrative document was attached. The document, issued in the name of the mayor who oversees the area, describes the results of his interviews with the magicians and the demands on the power company, including the official seal and signature. The format of the official administrative documents was taken. In short, the suspicion that the magicians had interfered with the power plant was dealt with at the county's administrative level, beyond mere rumors and relationships. Why did it become such an important thing?

In this article, I will explain how the power outage incident in M ​​city was dealt with based on the contents of the administrative documents of the problem published on the Internet and the results of the field survey I conducted to confirm it. think about. Through this, I would like to clarify a part of the discourse and practice of development and witchcraft in the southeastern region of Cameroon.

Some may have the prejudice of "delayed African society", recalling Africa's backwardness-sometimes "undeveloped" -against African witchcraft, a little wider range of magic and magic. not. The view is that they believe in "superstitions" such as magic because they are not well-educated and underdeveloped.

However, if you think about it for a moment, it is clear that this is a big misunderstanding. For example, even in Japan, magic and magic are everywhere. On New Year's Day, many people may buy fortunes such as traffic safety, academic achievement, and aviation safety by drawing fortunes after the first visit. And these amulets are inextricably linked to social conditions and changes such as the spread of private cars, exam wars, and the generalization of air travel. The same is true for African witchcraft and magic. Then, what kind of modern situation did the discourses and practices about power outages and witchcraft, which we will see below, emerge?

Tropical forest country town

The southeastern border of Cameroon, which I have been investigating since 2008, is located at the northwestern tip of the tropical forests of the Congo Basin, with dense forests. The region is also considered a "forest-only countryside" in Cameroon and is rarely featured in online news articles. In rare cases, crackdowns on elephant poaching and ivory trade in national parks have been reported [Oishi 2016b].

The city of M, which is the setting of this article, is located along the border between Cameroon and the Republic of the Congo to the south, and is located at the end of the national highway heading east from the capital Yaoundé for about 800 km. In addition to the city hall, there is also a county seat that controls the county, and the above-mentioned county seat is in charge of it. Once prosperous in the production of wild rubber [Geschiere 2005; Oishi 2016a], cacao is now cultivated as the main cash crop.

Infrastructure development is not sufficient as of 2014. There is no water and sewage, and drinking water is pumped up. Electricity is supplied by a large generator installed by the power company on the outskirts of the city, but this generator often breaks down, calling in engineers from the state capital more than 500 km away each time, resulting in power outages for several days. It is not uncommon to continue.

For communication, a mobile phone can be used because the antenna of the telephone company is standing. As in other regions, smartphones have quickly become widespread in southeastern Cameroon over the last few years, and many people use SNS via their mobile phone networks.

Outline of the power outage case-from the report of the mayor

It seems that the power outages mentioned in this article occurred from the end of March to the beginning of April 2014. It is stated that the report prepared in the name of the mayor was prepared on April 8, 2014, and the interview was conducted on April 4. The report is addressed to the chief executive officer of the power company. Below, we will introduce the contents of the report uploaded on the Internet.

According to the report, the interview was conducted at the mayor's office. The titles of the people who were present are listed. Representatives of the main administrative officers, military police captains, police officers, mayors of M city, representatives of neighboring village mayors as representatives of "traditional chiefs", and "Canton", which is one administrative unit above the village. Was convened.

The canton and village mayors are called by the name of "tradition" even though they are in the positions set by the government because they are entrusted with the handling of conflicts between residents based on customs, and their positions are. This is because it is virtually hereditary in a particular family of locals. In addition to the above-mentioned people, two representatives of the electric power company were present to interview the elderly women who were alleged to be magicians.

It is clearly stated that the purpose of this meeting was the following two. 1. 1. Putting an end to a series of generator failures and explosions, 2. It is to quickly recover the current situation where electricity is not returned for two days even though all parts are normal. 1 seems to mention that the generator was frequently out of order as mentioned above. I was using the generator while repairing it, which tends to break down, but something went wrong and it probably caused an explosion at last. However, the explosion did not seem to be large. As shown in 2, it can be seen that the repair of the generator had already been completed at the time of the interview. The problem at this point was that the generator did not work after the repair was completed.

It was the mayor and traditional chiefs who interviewed the women at this meeting. As a result of their relentless pursuit, older women, allegedly magicians, are said to have arranged for electricity to return immediately. The statement continues that they vowed not to do this again. And, in the opinion of the mayor and the traditional chiefs who interviewed the electric power company, it is stated that the gift should be surely given so that the people named as magicians will be satisfied. ..

Gifts are the items listed as requests from the magicians to the power company. In addition to a large amount of food, seasonings, alcoholic beverages, and items that seem to be held at a party, daily items such as mountain swords and cash are also included, totaling 1 million FCFA (in Japanese yen). The request for crappy goods (about 200,000 yen) was raised over 13 items.

Elderly women, allegedly witchcraft, make two points about the rationale for this request. A. No formal unveiling ceremony was held for the introduction of the power generation facility, B. Due to the high voltage (lines), their "magic plane" had to land in N town, 17km away from M city, so they had to rent a motorcycle and return to M city, It is a wasteful expense.

An "airplane of magic" is an "airplane" created by a magician with the power of magic. It is said that you cannot even see it with your eyes, let alone ride it, if you do not have witchcraft. It is said that former witchcraft messengers traveled on owls and palm leaves, but nowadays witchcraft messengers take "airplanes" to meet with other witchcraft and go sightseeing in Paris, France. It is said that. Is there a wave of modernization and internationalization in the witchcraft industry?

Immediately after describing these, so to speak, magicians' statements, the report was closed with the concluding remarks "in special respect." Below that is the official seal of the mayor and his autograph, which shows that this is a formal administrative document.

Here is a summary of the power outage incidents found in the mayor's report. It was the elderly women, allegedly magicians, who allegedly turned off the power. For them, the mayor set up a place for questioning by imitating the mayor and other government officials, police, military police, and even traditional chiefs. After hearings by the mayor and traditional chiefs, older women made many requests to the power company, pledged to restore electricity and never do this again. Mayors and traditional chiefs, on the other hand, are asking power companies to ensure that this is done.

However, there are some things that cannot be understood just by reading the report. The first is who the elderly women were interviewed for and why they were named as magicians. The second point is why the mayors and traditional chiefs were the main interviewees. There is no mention that some of the members convened at the meeting were involved in questioning, despite some police and military police executives. Third, nothing is written about what the mayor did. If you read the report honestly, the mayor is doing nothing but convening participants and providing their office as a venue. What was he doing during this meeting?

Women who stopped the power generation facility-Interviews at the site

After that, for several days in November 2014, I had the opportunity to investigate this matter in M ​​City. The visit to the mayor was refused, but I was able to hear directly from the mayor of a district in M ​​city who was present at the interview, and a man living near the power generation facility told me. I was also able to hear in detail how the names of the elderly women were mentioned. The contents are summarized below.

A man living near the power generation facility told us how the woman B, who is said to be the "mastermind", turned off the electricity among the elderly women who were named magicians. Several families lived around the power generation facility, and Mr. B was one of them. One day there was a multi-hour quarrel between her and her neighbor's wife. The swearing at each other escalated, and finally the wife of her neighbor cut the wire leading to Mr. B's house. Electricity was flowing from the house next to her to Mr. B's house. The wife of the neighbor said, "Because of your actions, there is no more electricity flowing there." She was angry with this, and she said, "If so, no one would get electricity around our house."

After a few days, the quarrel between the two continued. The wife of the neighbor's house continued to curse Mr. B, and Mr. B, who was furious at it, teamed up with two magicians and sent a snake magically into a drum containing fuel of the power generation facility, which was the fuel. I stopped the flow. As a result, the power generation facility did not operate normally, and the power supply to M city was cut off.

A few days later, their quarrel resumed. The wife of the neighbor told her people that Mr. B was the one who caused the power outage in M ​​city. One of them was that they got the attention of the mayor, called on the traditional chiefs, the mayor and the military police, and interviewed Mr. B.

I was able to hear from one of the mayors of M City about the circumstances of the interview. It was said that Mr. B's residence and power generation facility were convened because they were in the area under his jurisdiction.

According to him, Mr. B initially claimed that he knew nothing. Therefore, the mayor told her gendarmerie to beat her and insisted that she should be put in her prison to reflect on her.

It was the mayor and the traditional chiefs who disagreed with this. The ward mayor I spoke to is also in this position. They then told the mayor that this was a matter of custom and that it was our jurisdiction, not the mayor. Their offer was accepted, and as stated in the above report, subsequent interviews were to be conducted mainly by them.

According to the mayor, the explanation given by Mr. B at the interview was slightly different from the report of the mayor. The explanation is as follows. B's husband bought land for her to build her house before she was alive. However, after the death of her husband, she did not have the financial or physical strength to build her house. A power company appeared there, building a power plant on her land, and no payment was made to her. She screamed at the power plant managers, but she didn't get a satisfactory response. The above is the first explanation.

The second explanation is that, as the mayor's report stated, the presence of power generation facilities prevented him from attending the magician's meeting by "airplane", and other participants as well. , It is said that unnecessary expenses for traveling are incurred because it is not possible to land in M ​​city by "airplane".

When the mayor and traditional chiefs who received this explanation asked Mr. B if there was any request instead of having her electricity returned, she nodded. And when she was prompted to say what she needed, the lamps in the mayor's office began to light up again before she spoke her words.

Seeing this situation, the mayor seemed to be convinced. He told everyone who was there to write down the items the woman gave him. The mayor sent a report to the power company managers, but the requested goods were not delivered. Instead, some village chiefs shared money and gave it to Mr. B and her companions. After that, the power generation facility did not break down as often as before, and it was operating smoothly.

Who and how it is appropriate to deal with witchcraft issues

Interviews with the mayor and residents around the power generation facility provided hints to answer some of the questions in the mayor's report.

First, the background of the elderly women who were interviewed. One of them, Mr. B, was named because he lived in the vicinity of the power generation facility, the power was cut off due to a trouble with his neighbor a few days before the big power outage, and after the power outage. The cause was that the other party in the world said that the power outage was due to Mr. B's magic. The women named in addition to Mr. B were considered to be her companions.

In response, the mayor of the county and the chiefs of tradition tried to respond with their own authority in the interview regarding the power outage. First, the mayor did more than just provide a venue for questioning. He insisted that Mr. B be arrested and sent to jail. There may be several reasons why the mayor made such a claim.

One of them is the discourse that "witchcraft is a hindrance to development", which is widely mentioned in Cameroon. The witchcraft turmoil among the inhabitants makes it difficult for people to participate in development projects in solidarity. Also, those who practice witchcraft are to be punished according to Cameroon's criminal law. In particular, in the eastern province of Cameroon, where this article was set, courts often deal with cases related to witchcraft. Defendant accused of being a witch is almost guilty in court and must be sentenced to jail [Geschiere 1997].

However, the mayor's response was unexploded when the mayor and traditional chiefs claimed it was a matter of custom. Traditional chiefs are responsible for the function of local dispute resolution, which first decides on problems that occur in the villages under their jurisdiction [Hirano (Nomoto) Renja-Njemsue 2016]. If the power outage happened after a trouble between Mr. B and her neighbors, this is exactly the problem they should deal with. Since the mayor is elected from the local residents, he is closer to the traditional chiefs than the mayor dispatched from the center. It was for the above reasons that Mr. B's questioning was conducted mainly by the mayor and traditional chiefs.

However, all attempts to solve the problem based on the law and customs were defeated by Mr. B's own remarks. In the first place, the questioning between Mr. B and his neighbor was not mentioned at all in the interview conducted at the mayor's office. Her claim made there was that the power company introduced a power plant on her land, but no compensation was given, and that the presence of the power plant made her a magician. It was that the activity was hindered.

According to this claim, the reason why Mr. B stopped the power generation facility by the power of her magic is not due to the conflict with her neighbor, but to the electric power company to compensate for the disadvantage due to the existence of the power generation facility. It means that it was to ask. Thus, the magical power outage in M ​​City has become a borderline case where it is difficult to establish a coping framework by reference to either customs or law.

The practice-based solution attempt aims to calm her anger, which is blocking it with witchcraft, in order to restore power. However, seeking compensation from the power company for that purpose is far beyond the scope of custom. Therefore, the mayor and the traditional chief may have only made a proposal that he hopes that Mr. B's request will be fulfilled.

On the other hand, the mayor, who tried to deal with the situation under the law, could not put Mr. B in jail without question as he was a magician, as he claimed at the beginning. Because, although Mr. B said she used witchcraft, she also claims to be a victim of power company infringement. Moreover, as the mayor and traditional chief support her claim, the mayor would have been accused of not being willing to solve the problem of magical power outages if he chose to leave. In this way, the report was established when the authority and speculation of the mayor and the mayor / traditional chiefs for Mr. B's allegations were slightly different.

This report has been ignored by power companies and has in fact had no effect. No compensation has been given to Mr. B, and the series of turmoil has not been settled. However, power has already been restored and the problem to be addressed has been resolved. Perhaps the demands contained in this report will be in the spotlight when power outages become more frequent again. Until then, this issue will remain shelved.

in conclusion

As mentioned above, the discourses and practices concerning power outages and witchcraft dealt with in this paper do not depend on the company to what extent the judiciary and the government can deal with the witchcraft problem, triggered by the advancement of electric power companies into this area. It can be seen that the profitable individuals are developing while involving the modern situation of how they can claim the facts and seek compensation. In the process, a new area of ​​individual-to-company witchcraft has emerged, which is neither a witchcraft that hinders the development of what the government considers to be a problem, nor a witchcraft due to the entanglement of human relationships that should be dealt with in accordance with customs. be.

From the case of witchcraft in southeastern Cameroon, it seems that witchcraft is not separated from the modern situation and is constantly being updated with the emergence of new situations. If not, the witchcraft narrative will soon become obsolete and unrealistic. In other words, witchcraft always has the effect of involving and incorporating various social situations (Note 1).

In the process, a person's actions can have unexpected consequences that deviate from his or her intentions. For example, the mayor tried to crack down on the magician, but that action resulted in officially documenting the magician's claims and demands and reporting them to the power company. It is not hard to imagine that these actions of the mayor will influence the reality of the magic that acts between individuals and businesses. People are involved in witchcraft, whether they want it or not (Note 2).

In this way, witchcraft has always been dynamically transformed by being connected to various social changes and new elements. Witchcraft has not "still remained", but has gradually expanded and changed the areas in which it can act with social conditions. In that sense, witchcraft is always at the cutting edge.

(Note 1) Hamamoto described this kind of witchcraft belief as "a huge narrative device that continues to regenerate itself while creating a complex chain of events that goes from the private life of an individual to the politics of a community. It looks like "[Hamamoto 2014: 507].

(Note 2) It is not only the local residents who are involved in witchcraft in this way. The author, who lives in the field and conducts research, may also be confused when faced with the scale [Yamaguchi 2012].

References

Geschiere, P. 1997. The Modernity of Witchcraft: Politics and the Occult in Postcolonial Africa. Charlottesville and London: University of Virginia Press.

・ ―. 2005. Tournaments of Value ”in the Forest Area of ​​Southern Cameroon:'Multiple Self-realization' Versus Colonial Coercion During the Rubber Boom (1900–1913). In W. van Binsbergen & P. ​​Geschiere eds., Commodification: Things, Agency, and Identities (The Social Life of Things Revisited). New Brunswick and London: Transaction Publishers, pp. 243–263.

・ Mitsuru Hamamoto. 2014. "The Curse of Belief-Ethnography of Witchcraft in the Kenyan Coastal Durma Society" Kyushu University Press.

・ Misa Hirano (Nomoto), Anju B. Renja-Njemsue. 2016. "The Potential of Tradition Open to the Present-Conflict Resolution and Traditional Authority in the Cameroon-Bamileke Emirati Society" Itaru Ohta Series General Editor / Motoji Matsuda, Misa Hirano (Nomoto) (ed.) "African Potential 1 Conflict Culture to squeeze-imperfections and practice of Bamileke ”Kyoto University Press. pp. 57-91.

・ Takanori Oishi. 2016a. "Historical Ecology of Ethnic Borders-Farmers and Hunting Collectors Living in Cameroon" Kyoto University Press.

・ ―. 2016b. “Why does elephant poaching never go away? Global efforts and conflicts in the hunter-gatherer community” August 31, 2016.

・ Ryota Yamaguchi. 2012. "Thinking in'Hazama'-On the Discourse of Elieve in Southeastern Cameroon-", Asia-Africa Area Studies, 12 (1): 137–140.

(You can also read it on the website "Central Africa Studies in Kyoto":