This scholarly article analyzes five major phases of Pentecostal revivalism in the Twentieth Century. This paper argues that the key to understanding both Pentecostal success and West African traditional religion lies in distilling a particular conception of spiritual power that is given prominence in both the African and Pentecostal worldviews.
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Heaner evaluates the socio-political role of Pentecostalism in Liberia, Africa. Heaner analyzes the growth of the Pentecostal churches within post-conflict settings of nearly total social, economic, educational and political collapse in Liberia.
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Many states such as Jharkhand, Bihar and Orissa, have had concerns expressed about the targeting of women as ‘witches’, or what is widely called ‘witch hunting’. This report addresses social trends, norms, and acceptance of making women targets for such accusation and persecution. It discusses the consequences of “witch-hunting” and laws that have been put into place to combat it.
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Mozambique norm and standard has been reported to support “summary executions by police” and “police killings” in all major cities in Mozambique. Bertelsen explains the correlation between state and violence, with accompanying human rights violations that are currently taking place within Mozambique.
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Being accused of witchcraft, black magic or other forms of evil, can result in serious violations of human rights including, at the most extreme, torture and death. This happens all around the world. Women, children, the disabled and the elderly are particularly vulnerable to these forms of abuse.
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Witchcraft was studied in the 1960s through a comparative approach that covered different continents and periods of time. The topic was again widely discussed by anthropologists and sociologists in the 1990s, with an emphasis on global, and interdisciplinary perspectives to better understand witchcraft.
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The study investigated Socio-cultural factors affecting child witchcraft labeling among the people of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The simple random and cluster sampling techniques were used for the selection of three hundred and fifty respondents used as sample for the study. The questionnaire and focused group discussions were instruments of data collection. Analysis was done using the frequency and percentages, correlation and multiple regression. The results of the findings revealed that there exist significance relationship between social factors and child witchcraft labeling. Cultural factors were discovered also to have influence on child witchcraft labeling. Based on the findings, it is recommended that deliberate and proactive steps must be taken to curb the excesses of the perpetrators of this evil act of child witchcraft labeling. Most of the cultural beliefs should be reframed in line with modernization.
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Social workers are charged with safeguarding children. It is important to be aware of the subject of abuse linked with a belief system so that cases of such abuse can be identified at the earliest possible stage. Cases of child abuse linked to a belief in spirit possession or witchcraft are not common however they can lead to extreme physical and emotional abuse and to child deaths. The cases of Victoria Climbie, Kristy Bamu and Ikpomwosa, whose torso was recovered from the Thames, were all child deaths linked to this belief system. Therefore if you believe this issue may be present it is vital to respond as quickly as possible.
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Misconceptions on HIV transmission and prevention, stigmatizing and discriminatory attitudes were prevalent among the adolescents. Remarkable reduction in HIV related misconceptions, stigmatizing and discriminatory attitudes were observed. Hence, campaigns using combined IEC interventions on HIV/AIDS need to be intensified to dispel some of the prevailing misconceptions and associated stigma and discrimination among school adolescents.
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