Spellbound: Inside West Africa's Witch Camps

by Karen Palmer

As I attempted to digest stories of spiritual cannibalism, of curses that could cost a student her eyesight or ignite the pages of the books she read, I knew I was not alone in my skepticism. And yet, when I caught sight of the waving arms of an industrious scarecrow, the hair on the back of my neck would stand on end. It was most palpable at night, this creepy feeling, when the moon stayed low to the horizon and the dust kicked up in the breeze, reaching out and pulling back with ghostly fingers. There was something to this place that could be felt but not seen.

With these words, Karen Palmer takes us inside one of West Africa’s witch camps, where hundreds of banished women struggle to survive under the watchful eye of a powerful wizard. Palmer arrived at the Gambaga witch camp with an outsider’s sense of outrage, believing it was little more than a dumping ground for difficult women. Soon, however, she encountered stories she could not a woman who confessed she’d attacked a girl given to her as a sacrifice; another one desperately trying to rid herself of the witchcraft she believed helped her kill dozens of people.

In Spellbound, Palmer brilliantly recounts the kaleidoscope of experiences that greeted her in the remote witch camps of northern Ghana, where more than 3,000 exiled women and men live in extreme poverty, many sentenced in a ceremony hinging on the death throes of a sacrificed chicken.

As she ventured deeper into Ghana’s grasslands, Palmer found herself swinging between belief and disbelief. She was shown books that caught on fire for no reason and met diviners who accurately predicted the future. From the schoolteacher who believed Africa should use the power of its witches to gain wealth and prestige to the social worker who championed the rights of accused witches but also took his wife to a witch doctor, Palmer takes readers deep inside a shadowy layer of rural African society.

As the sheen of the exotic wore off, Palmer saw the camp for what it a hidden colony of women forced to rely on food scraps from the weekly market. She witnessed the way witchcraft preyed on people’s fears and resentments. Witchcraft could be a comfort in times of distress, a way of explaining a crippling drought or the inexplicable loss of a child. It was a means of predicting the unpredictable and controlling the uncontrollable. But witchcraft was also a tool for social control. In this vivid, startling work of first-person reportage, Palmer sheds light on the plight of women in a rarely seen corner of the world.

Genres: Nonfiction, Africa, Western Africa, Witches, History

256 pages, Paperback

First published October 7, 2010

Reviews

[Karen]

I loved it. Of course, I lived it... so I would love it.

[Sandy D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This journalist's account of witchcraft accusations and refugee camps for the accused in northern Ghana started out very strongly, but flagged a bit in the middle. It needed more focus on a few individuals, I think, to make a more engaging story.

The more you learn, the more depressing the subject is, too - it's all tied into poverty, traditional religion, and women's social roles.

I would be interested in knowing how this problem is handled elsewhere in Africa as compared to Ghana. Palmer did do a very nice historical review of witchcraft in Ghana, as well a good look at what witchcraft means to different people there and how it fits in with Christianity.

[Joss Valen · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author has a white savior complex soaked in skepticism and there is heavy exoticism of Africa.

[Robyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I find it problematic that it is written by a white woman with no real understanding of Ghanaian history, culture, or even language. Sure, she lived there for awhile, and obviously enjoyed herself, and somewhat became friends with those she met, but does that mean she truly understands the layers of social, economic and psychological meanings witch camps in Ghana? How can she really neutrally share the facts about witch camps when she can't even speak the languages? Palmer admits herself, in chapter four or five that she has difficulty understanding all the stories from those she interviews, and that at times during the interviews it was like playing broken telephone. Anyone who has played that game should then understand how completely unreliable holding an interview through broken telephone would be. Even more so when the telephone includes three rounds of translation on the way there, and another three on the way back. Her confusion and lack of clarity shines through her chapters, which are clumsy in their own storytelling.

So what can we really take away from a book written in these conditions? How long did she stay in Gambaga? What authority and research does she have to provide a narrative to witchcraft rulings in Ghana? It obviously would have been more trustworthy to read this type of book about Ghana if written by a Ghanaian with the cultural perspective to share about these distinctly Ghanaian experiences. As it is, this book lacks real focus and is often repetitive. It feels as though no one story is fully fleshed out, while at the same time, draws from experiences of many different women to attempt to produce one larger cohesive narrative. And yet, just about the only thing I learned from this book is that witch camps exist. The intricacies behind the layers of why and how they exist, remains a mystery.

[George Ilsley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Spellbound is a somewhat ironic title for a book which is, ultimately, not that interesting.

The author spent some time in the area and I suppose felt she needed to get a book out of that experience. However, the topic seems to have eluded her; and in its place we have a mish-mash of history, sociology and personal anecdotes. Not until page 200 do we actually meet a self-professed practitioner of witchcraft — who is of course male. Basically, men can do whatever they want and women are vulnerable. It's a sad tale, definitely, but somehow this book does not illuminate.

[Theresa Plumb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn't going to write a review of this book initially, but I wanted to respond to some of the other reviews here.

Ms. Palmer has the difficult job of being a white woman writing about an issue concerning gender and culture in an African country. Just because she's white and wants to help people, doesn't mean she has a white girl savior complex. The book is investigative and does not suggest that white people need to come in and save these people; if anything, the book emphasizes heavily that these people need to save themselves by embracing education, modern medicine, and modern economics while understandably facing major challenges that come with the region they live in.

Exoticism. Based on what Palmer writes in the book (and I have not sought out other researchers' perspectives on this) it seems like she spent more time in the witch camps than other researchers. She mentions a couple times that other researchers and interested parties would only spend a day or two due to the costs associated with visiting the camps. I would say these other people are more touristy, seeking a brief, exotic experience in Africa.

Sensationalism. Nobody is flocking to read a 200+ page book about rural Ghana (as unfortunate as that is). Nonfiction is nowhere near as trendy as fiction. While the topic is quite interesting to me, most people I mentioned this book too have subtly expressed that they want me to shut up about it. Sensationalist books I've seen related to witchcraft are ones lacking a list of references or any primary source material (and likely any research whatsoever), and are along the lines of "how to do your own spells and potions at home".

I find most interesting the critic who mentioned that they lived in northern Ghana, and that they were aware of many differences in what Palmer describes as her experience in the book. I wish this critic explained what those differences are. I've been to Takoradi, Tema, and Accra, but nowhere in northern Ghana, so another perspective on the area would be great to have. Additionally, I've been to the fetish market in Lome, Togo briefly mentioned in the book; this market is what started me on this journey of studying nonfiction witches. I found Palmer's description of the Lome fetish market to be spot-on, and chuckled to myself when she states that she bought the travel talisman because a couple of my coworkers bought those talismans as well (for what I feel is a silly price for a stick and some string).

I do not share all of Palmer's opinions on the topic of the witch camps. However, I greatly appreciate the effort she put into researching and presenting this topic. Her book has given me a solid starting point in my studies of west African witchcraft, and allowed me to form some of my own opinions on the topic.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I also love the title, and I think it is very clever. "Spellbound" ties in with the theme of bondage, with elderly, childless women being held captive by the witchcraft culture. Additionally, "spellbound" plays on the theme of fatalism being an obstacle of modernization in northern Ghana, as in spell-bound: the region is destined to believe in witchcraft and that belief will influence the future development of their societies.

[Juliet Hotel · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's not much to critique given this book is anecdotal, in that it relates Karen Palmer's exploration of how women accused of witchcraft are treated with prejudice in Northern Ghana. Palmer approaches a feminist perspective while (for the most part) remaining objective. She's just a visitor of course, attempting to assimilate the archaic culture of impoverished villages that causes women to be killed, or at least exiled, for being accused of witchcraft and where their lives often hang on the judgement of a witch-doctor, who makes a profit on hunting witches. Most of the women accused will spend the rest of their lives in poverty and exile regardless of the wealth and status they maintained previous to the accusations. Rationally, this book is also a discussion on human-rights violations, sex-biased prejudice, and religious prejudice. Anyone from child to geriatric can make a fatal accusation for any reason and without any proof, then the witch-doctor is called in and a woman's life is ended based on this man's judgement.

I think that says it all as far as synopsis is concerned. The book wanes a bit as it ends, but you also get the impression that Palmer's efforts are also waning. You'll find yourself sympathising with the exiled women and with Palmer's inability to do anything about it. Not a long story, is a compelling read, and easy enough to digest.

[Kathleen McRae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting material although Karen Palmer goes from documenting the sorrow of these women condemned to living a life of poverty in a remote environment while scrabbling or begging or depending on aid shipments.Their only crime is being a member of a society that does not respect or value women and this is a convenient way of discarding them.The deep superstition embedded in this patriarchal culture to focus anger when bad events happen is also one that allows the tribal male heads to profit from the labor of the women and the deep devisions within their families.Many remedies exist to exorcise the evil out of these woman but it too comes at a price and those who are able to return to their families face superstitious communities that are only too willing to level these accusations again although I enjoyed this book I found myself wondering what message the author was really trying to put forward

[Rodeweeks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good but extremely sad. Africa is at this moment where Europe were a few centuries ago. Today European people who identify as witches can do so openly without fear of being killed, I hope that Africa will reach that point soon. However, many of the women (and men) in Africa are killed on accusation of something they did not do out of hate, jealousy, and ignorance (just as happened in Europe before). I've read this book in the light of the 16 days of activism against abuse of women and children in South Africa. Superstitious beliefs are ingrained in our being and we cannot judge African spirituality as the same goes for Christianity and Islam and other major religions. I also believe in the existence of witches and spirits of which not all are necessarily bad or evil. I disagree strongly with the idea that we should go look for witches and kill them. Wage spiritual warfare, but do not attack the physical person.

[Maria Morrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heart-wrenching, thought provoking and well laid out, this glimpse into the world of Ghanian Witch camps, where men and women are exiled or escape to after accusations of sorcery. For most it is an place of shame: blamed for actions not their own, guided by ancient mysticism and betrayed by their own culture they find themselves at the mercy of organizations, chiefs and those given power over them. Karen Palmer lays out the many issues which have accumulated to create these places where women can be put because of another's bad dreams, lean times or unexpected deaths, things all too common in the remote villages from which they come.

[Karyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book okay. She tried to write a balanced perspective, but as someone who lived for two years in Northern Ghana, I think she missed a lot. (I was within one day biking distance of Gambaga but lived with a different tribe). It felt to me as if she was looking for a story and then wrote about it. There was much that she wrote that did not ring true. I'd be interested in what other people who have knowledge of Northern Ghana thought.

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Karen Palmer does a very decent job of investigating these Ghanaian witch camps, in trying to understanding the cultural underpinnings and give a balanced view of them. Very interesting albeit depressing book.

[Tyra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I seldom read non-fiction but I found this book very interesting. It talks about the cultural reasons why the belief in witchcraft is very difficult to overcome as well as the plight of the women in the witchcamps

[Shanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book examines the lives of African women cast out of their villages after they were accused of witchcraft. I had no idea this was happening in the world. However, it felt unfocused and a little exploitative.

[Toni · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although it's an interesting subject, this should have been an article not a whole book.

[Jackie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an interesting subject but one of the few books that I had to work to get through...the writing was repetetive and needed fleshed out a bit more.

[Mills College Library]

133.43096 P1748 2010

[Brittney]

Made it about halfway through; not as engaging as I'd hoped