A Witch`s Hand – Curing, Killing, Kinship, and Colonialism among the Lujere of New Guinea`s Upper Sepik River Basin

From 1971 to 1972, William E. Mitchell undertook fieldwork on suffering and healing among the Lujere of Papua New Guinea’s Upper Sepik River Basin. At a time when it was not yet common to make colonial agencies a subject of anthropological study, Mitchell carefully located his research on Lujere practices in the framework of a history of colonization that surrounded the Lujere with a shifting array of Western institutions, dramatically changing their society forever. Mitchell’s work has been well known among anthropologists of Oceania, but the material in this book has remained unpublished until now.

In this major new work, Mitchell revisits his early fieldwork with a three-part study of the history of colonial rule in the region, the social organization of Lujere life at the time, and the forms of affliction, witchcraft, and curing that preoccupied them. Furthermore, Mitchell offers the first sweeping cross-cultural survey of sanguma (magical murder) in Oceania. The book presents a vivid portrait of a society that has since changed dramatically as well as an approach to anthropology that was typical of the era. This is a significant contribution to the ethnography of Papua New Guinea and is sure to be an invaluable source for researchers of Melanesia, medical anthropologists, and scholars of kinship, myth, and ritual.