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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Bewitching Zulu women: Umhayizo, gender, and witchcraft in KwaZulu-Natal
Authors:Parle, JulieISNI
Scorgie, FionaISNI
Year:2012
Periodical:South African Historical Journal (ISSN 0258-2473)
Volume:64
Issue:4
Pages:852-875
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:Zulu
witchcraft
magic
women
sexuality
External link:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02582473.2012.671352
Abstract:'Umhayizo', a form of bewitchment of young women supposedly caused by the use of love medicines, has been reported in south-eastern Africa, especially in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal, for more than a century. Co-authored by an historian and an anthropologist, this article begins with an ethnographic description of an incident of 'umhayizo' in 2000 and then brings together a variety of sources and perspectives on 'umhayizo' including late-nineteenth-century evidence of 'umhayizo' from missionary accounts of the use of love medicines; archival documents which reflect increasing African ambivalence about the use of love medicines; accounts and explanations of 'umhayizo' by ethnographers, anthropologists and psychologists from the 1950s; and recent observations of and treatments for 'umhayizo' in rural KwaZulu-Natal. The authors argue that it is important to pay attention to the specificities of the phenomenon of 'umhayizo' so as to understand how it might be placed in the context of gender politics, including the gendered use of love medicines, and of the control of women's sexuality both in the past, and now, at a time when HIV/AIDS ravages this region. Notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]
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