Anthropological Studies on the Relation between Witchcraft and Development

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16H06875
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Area studies
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Ryota YAMAGUCHI 京都大学, アフリカ地域研究資料センター, 特任研究員 (80783422)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-08-26 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 妖術 / 開発 / 熱帯林 / アフリカ / 人類学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study aims to suggest the importance of focusing on witchcraft discourses for carrying out the development project in African tropical forest regions. This point of view has the potential to approach emotions and reality of actors, which tends to fall out of development theory based on conventional quantitative data.
Field survey was conducted in the southeastern border area of Cameroon Republic and Equator Province of Democratic Republic of the Congo. The author revealed current socio-economic situations of these areas and discussed the possibility of development project go along with the inhabitants.

Free Research Field

文化人類学、地域研究