Return To Laughter Summary

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Han Wei Introduction to Cultural Anthropology Matthew C. Watson 26th February 2017 Anthropology Paper-Witchcraft in Return to Laughter Anthropology is a study in which people study human beings and their culture. Anthropologists can study human beings’ social life through different methods such as participant observation. Laura Bohannan (Elenore Smith Bowen), the author of Return to Laughter, exercised this method by spending time in the African bush living with and studying Tiv tribe. She not only observed the locals’ daily routines and the function of their society, she also participated as one of the members of their society. In the beginning, she still distinguished herself as a European with different cultural living standard. Slowly, …show more content…

Amara fell ill when she was pregnant and she had been given so many medicines that were of little use. Udama, who was with Bowen at Amara’s, believed that there was magic in what was going on, perhaps witchcraft. People in Tiv tribe believed that there was a meaning or a cause for the actions that happened to them, reversing the action was also possible; therefore there became an assumption that the problem can be taken care of by practicing witchcraft. That’s why Udama believed that unless the elders seek out this evil and remove it, no medicine can help Amara. The diviner had found that four men had reason to bewitch Amara: her father Lam, her two uncles Yabo and Yilabo, and her husband. That demonstrated the rule of witch accusation: since witches often are supposed to have a special hold over their relatives, witchcraft accusations primarily target persons from within the family, even if they may have worked others from outside. Then, Amara’s husband accused Yabo that he coveted more bridewealth and therefore bewitched her to force him pay more bridewealth. Yabo made counteraccusation then. Finally Yabo lowered his first price. Amara’s husband paid it and they stopped accusing each other. Again, Yilabo and Yabo accused each other, saying that the other one envy his wife and inheritance. So it seems that the witchcraft accusation associated with personal feelings, hate and rancor could lead to witchcraft accusation. Witchcraft therefore epitomizes the frightening realization that there is jealousy and aggression within the intimate circle of the family where only solidarity and trust should reign. In their witchcraft accusation and counteraccusation, “Each knew himself innocent. Each therefore knew the other guilty. I knew them both innocent. I watched while each strove to break the other, to force his confession, to save Amara. I knew they could not. Their battle was the more terrible to me because it was in

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