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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Exorcising Witchcraft: The Return of the Gods in New Religious Movements on the Jos Plateau and the Benue Regions of Nigeria
Author:Danfulani, Umar Habila DademISNI
Year:1999
Periodical:African Affairs: The Journal of the Royal African Society
Volume:98
Issue:391
Period:April
Pages:167-193
Language:English
Geographic term:Nigeria
Subjects:Eggon
Tiv
witchcraft
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Religion and Witchcraft
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/723625
Abstract:This article is a study of anti-witchcraft movements among the Eggon of the Jos Plateau and the Tiv of the Benue Valley in Nigeria. It examines the phenomena of the New Religious Movements (NRMs) in formation and describes the emergence of exorcist movements, first, as processes leading to the formation of NRMs, and secondly, as a medium for allowing the return of the gods and thus an attempt at reviving indigenous religion. It shows that exorcist cults, which were often anticolonial in origin, were suppressed by the colonial authorities and strongly discouraged by Christian missionary activity. More recently, they have demonstrated a dynamic resurgence. Some Tiv 'ijov' (exorcist) cults have organized and established themselves into NRMs, a form which Eggon witch doctors have yet to attain despite the mass support they have from the grassroots. The conclusion is that the cults are not so much a revival of indigenous religious beliefs but that the old gods never went away. Notes, ref., sum.
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