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Social and cultural dimensions of the recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa: Ontological friction and the ills of ‘western witchcraft’

The recent Ebola epidemic in West Africa was one of the worst public health crises in modern history. A major problem contributing to its rapid spread and tragic consequences was the widespread belief in afflicted communities that the epidemic was caused by foreign sorcery and that biomedical relief teams sent in to control the disease were actually spreading the disease rather than combatting it. As a result, the emergency response teams met with strong and sometimes violent resistance from local communities, significantly hampering the Ebola eradication effort. The present project aims to explore (1) the reasons for this widespread resistance to the eradication effort and, particularly, its association with witchcraft/sorcery, and (2) why sorcery allegations were primarily directed against foreign medical personnel to the point that afflicted communities perceived themselves to be victims of 'western sorcery'? The project will run for three years and involve anthropological fieldwork and extensive library research. Fieldwork will be carried out in Guinea and involve participatory observation, collection of illness narratives, case studies of sorcery allegations and interviews with recovered patients and afflicted families, local health workers, traditional healers and members of international Ebola response teams. No similar comprehensive study of the Ebola epidemic has been carried out.

Project ID

SE-0-29-2016-05625_1-251-43082

Activity status

2 - Implementation

Aid type

D02 - Other technical assistance

% to Liberia

100.00

Organisations

Funding

Sweden

Implementing

Nordiska Afrikainstitutet

Extending

None

CRS code	%
Research/scientific institutions (43082)	100.0