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[marct]

I know what you mean. Happens when I spend too much time with my kids. I lose my ability to make adult decisions. My wife suspects I'm really still a child, but the truth is that I have become compromised by their mindset (if you can call it that).

LOL - As a note, your original post got me going on a bit of a rant on the topic.

Cheers,

Marc

[Beelzebubalicious]

Marc, I replied to you over in harmonium. We'll see if that stirs the pot a little! A little cross-fertilization is always good.

In relation to your statement above, I also note here the quote from the report:

The Ugandan government told us that human sacrifice is on the increase, and according to the head of the country's Anti-Human Sacrifice Taskforce the crime is directly linked to rising levels of development and prosperity, and an increasing belief that witchcraft can help people get rich quickly.

The assumption is that such extreme measures are taken in times of desperation, but this appears to contradict this assumption and imply that perhaps people are getting rich precisely b/c they have made these sacrifices and that's why the rate of human sacrifice is increasing.

[marct]

Hi BB,

Marc, I replied to you over in harmonium. We'll see if that stirs the pot a little! A little cross-fertilization is always good.

True - I replied to your reply as well.....

The assumption is that such extreme measures are taken in times of desperation, but this appears to contradict this assumption and imply that perhaps people are getting rich precisely b/c they have made these sacrifices and that's why the rate of human sacrifice is increasing.

Personally, I think they are either misusing the term "witchcraft" in place of "sorcery" or they have missed the boat. Both can rise during times of social strain, and I suspect that both are on the rise in Uganda. Witchcraft, and witch doctors (finders, etc.) tend to rise when individuals perceive that they have suffered a relative misfortune, while sorcery tends to rise when people feel that they are not getting what they could / should out of current opportunities.

The assumption about the efficacy of the sacrifices is the key point to actually stopping them. Unfortunately, it is insanely easy (well, relatively speaking), to reconfigure a general belief in "magic", loosely construed, into the practice of blood magic in one form or another. What is much harder is stomping it out. By way of example, consider the Thugee cult in India during the 19th century...

[Tom OC]

Marc, I don't think the practice of witchcraft/sorcery, in the context of ritual child sacrifice, has got anything to do with social stress or social strain at all. Infanticide, maybe, because certainly exogenous social shocks to the system create sociogenic forces which cause crime. But, the ritual practice of killing kids to appease spirits comes endogenously (from the other direction). The idea that when one is unhappy with their station in life, one should sacrifice a child in hopes of a better, wealthier future doesn't correlate with any known system stressors that I know of, except maybe demographic pressures. The belief system is a warped kind of theodicy where the thinking goes like this: if I make the ultimate sacrifice, I may be better off. There are indeed certain rituals with social structural links like this, but child sacrifice isn't one of them. I'm going to have to go with this just being a psychologically twisted kind of crime on this one.

[marct]

Hi Tom,

Long time no chat! Glad to see you back here posting again.

Marc, I don't think the practice of witchcraft/sorcery, in the context of ritual child sacrifice, has got anything to do with social stress or social strain at all. Infanticide, maybe, because certainly exogenous social shocks to the system create sociogenic forces which cause crime. But, the ritual practice of killing kids to appease spirits comes endogenously (from the other direction).

Of course the impetus is endogenous, or at least the symbol system supporting such sacrifices is. Don't forget that a lot of social strain is also endogenous as well. There's a couple of points I want to raise here. First, that one article doesn't really give us much of a clue as to the symbolic structure of the sacrifice system they are using. From the little data in the article, it appears to be some form of classic "blood pact" sacrifice, but that could be an artifact of the churches being involved (consider, by way of example, a similar craze that "happened" in North America; cf The Satanism Scare by Bromley, Best and Richardson). Outside of the lack of symbolic data, we don't know who the clients are, so motives can only be ascribed, which is also problematic.

What might, and I emphasize "might", be happening is a con job using a syncretism of local magic practices tied in with the "dark side" of Christianity (NB: "Satanism", symbolically, is an integral part of Christianity). That is one plausible explanation. Another plausible one would be something along the lines of a larger version of the Adolfo Constanzo group / cult which, on the surface at least, appears to have truly believed in the efficacy of blood rituals.

The idea that when one is unhappy with their station in life, one should sacrifice a child in hopes of a better, wealthier future doesn't correlate with any known system stressors that I know of, except maybe demographic pressures.

Cosmological causality is the main one. Hmmm, let me give you an example of this. All cultures and societies operate on belief structures about how "reality" is structured and what causal linkages exist. And, while it is rare to find cultures that have a direct link of child sacrifice leads to prosperity, there are a few examples such as the Phonecians, Carthage (same culture group) and the Aztecs and their culture group. And yes, demographic pressure combined with high birth rates and exceedingly stratified societies are the main stressors.

The few places where we see it happening not at a general cultural level, but as an inversion, tend to be periods of either high social stress and desperation (e.g. the Constanzo cult) or periods of high anomie (e.g. late 19th century France), or times where people believe they are being "tested" (e.g. GEN 22:1-24).

The belief system is a warped kind of theodicy where the thinking goes like this: if I make the ultimate sacrifice, I may be better off.

Oh, if my suspicions are correct, then it is indeed a warped theodicity. personally, my gut guess is that it is a syncretic front using primarily "Satanic" elements and symbolic logics.

There are indeed certain rituals with social structural links like this, but child sacrifice isn't one of them. I'm going to have to go with this just being a psychologically twisted kind of crime on this one.

Honestly, I don't have enough data to make even an argument from probability, so I'm (self)limited to ones of plausibility.

Cheers,

Marc

[Tom OC]

It has indeed been awhile, Marc, and from my lurking here the last couple of years, it appears you're doing fine. We've been busy, rolling out new courses, hiring new faculty, holding symposiums, etc. Austin Peay is doing great. We'll have to get together again. Maybe our summer symposium on Indonesia. You may remember I did my dissertation fieldwork on Filipino terrorism. Did I every show you my collection of magic trinkets that ward off bullets? Anyway, I'd like to chat about your "con man syncretism" (for lack of a better term) idea. Basically, I agree that it's some kind of psycho-socio-religious hybrid crime, and I think we really need to develop some groundwork on such crimes. Can you SITREP me on relevant stuff already discussed? I've been doing most of my criminological research lately in the international human rights area (crimes against women and children), but these "magic man" con artists intrigue me in a riled up sort of way.
Tom

[marct]

Hey Tom,

It has indeed been awhile, Marc, and from my lurking here the last couple of years, it appears you're doing fine.

Let's just say "it's been interesting" .

We've been busy, rolling out new courses, hiring new faculty, holding symposiums, etc. Austin Peay is doing great.

Excellent! I'm in the process of building several new courses myself which I will probably want to pick your brains about. More later on that one...

We'll have to get together again. Maybe our summer symposium on Indonesia. You may remember I did my dissertation fieldwork on Filipino terrorism. Did I every show you my collection of magic trinkets that ward off bullets?

Definitely a plan! I don't think I ever saw your collection, though. maybe next time I get down there. I have a few interesting "odds and ends" tucked away myself .

Anyway, I'd like to chat about your "con man syncretism" (for lack of a better term) idea. Basically, I agree that it's some kind of psycho-socio-religious hybrid crime, and I think we really need to develop some groundwork on such crimes. Can you SITREP me on relevant stuff already discussed? I've been doing most of my criminological research lately in the international human rights area (crimes against women and children), but these "magic man" con artists intrigue me in a riled up sort of way.

Not too much written on it, but I'll email you in the next few days. There's a lot of stuff on moral entrepreneurs, a bit of which, like the Satanism Scare, that is directly applicable. Most of the rest of it comes out of social history, the history of witchcraft, a bit of political science (e.g. witchcraft accusations in South Africa), folklore, etc. ad nauseum. It would probably be simpler for the two of us to just write a paper on it .

Cheers,

Marc