Same-sex competition and sexual conflict expressed through witchcraft accusations.

ABSTRACT: There is significant cross-cultural variation in the sex of individuals most likely to be accused of practising witchcraft. Allegations of witchcraft might be a mechanism for nullifying competitors so resources they would have used become available to others. In this case, who is targeted may result from patterns of competition and conflict (same-sex or male-female) within specific relationships, which are determined by broader socio-ecological factors. Here we examine patterns of sex-specific accusations in historic cases from sub-Saharan Africa (N = 423 accusations). Male 'witches' formed the greater part of our sample, and were mostly accused by male blood-relatives and nonrelatives, often in connection to disputes over wealth and status. Accusations of women were mainly from kin by mar

SUBMITTER: Peacey S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9033826 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature