Azande Witchcraft and Oracles

Record summary

E. E. Evans-Pritchard’s Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande documented concepts of mangu, several oracles and procedures for interpreting misfortune, accusation and social responsibility. It is a foundational comparison lead because it distinguishes witchcraft as a moral or causal explanation from technical magic and divination as institutions of knowledge. The work is influential but shaped by colonial-era field conditions and theoretical categories. Later scholars have questioned its representativeness, translation and the degree to which Azande practice was systematized by the ethnographer.