The Poison Oracle (Benge) among the Azande
- Date of account
- 1920s–1930s documentation
- Location
- Azande region, northern Belgian Congo and southern Sudan
- Source
- model_recalled_reference
- Record updated
- 2026-10-10
Record summary
The benge operation involved administering a suspected poison to a chicken while questioning the oracle about witchcraft, illness, theft, or other disputes. E. E. Evans-Pritchard documented the procedure in Azande Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic (1937), distinguishing its social logic from European assumptions about divination. The lead matters for comparison because it combines ritual expertise, adjudication, material substances, and culturally controlled interpretation. Exact procedures varied, and Evans-Pritchard’s account is an ethnography shaped by colonial conditions rather than a neutral laboratory report.
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