African Witchcraft and Global Asylum-Seeking: Border-Crossing Beliefs

This book examines how immigration regimes in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom have responded to allegations of witchcraft-driven violence made by asylum seekers from Anglophone countries in Africa. It argues that the expansion of claims to refugee protection under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention reflects the willingness of immigration authorities to consider how cultural practices and beliefs can lead to legally recognizable persecution. The book sheds light on the limits of legal pluralism and cultural relativism in asylum adjudication and the role of social scientific expertise in shaping understandings of witchcraft beliefs and practices.

Format: Hardback
Length: 166 pages
Publication date: 17 April 2023
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This comprehensive book delves into the intricate dynamics between immigration regimes in three key refugee-receiving states in the Global North – Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom – and the allegations of witchcraft-driven violence made by asylum seekers originating from Anglophone countries across the African continent. By engaging with a range of anthropological, historical, legal, developmental, and human rights literatures, the work offers fresh perspectives on the issue of extrajudicial violence and global migration.

At the heart of this study lies the examination of witchcraft-based asylum cases, which serve as a focal point for exploring the evolving attitudes of immigration authorities toward the recognition of persecution stemming from cultural practices and beliefs. The recent surge in claims to refugee protection under the 'particular social group category' of the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention is seen as a reflection of these authorities' growing willingness to consider how legally recognizable persecution can arise from cultural practices and beliefs.

Through a critical analysis of these cases, the book advances our understanding of how witchcraft beliefs and practices continue to be significant drivers of violence in the contemporary world. It sheds light on the limitations of legal pluralism and cultural relativism in asylum adjudication, while also highlighting the valuable contributions of social scientific expertise to the flow of ideas and the crossing of national, cultural, and epistemological boundaries.

This book will be an invaluable resource for students and researchers in legal anthropology, African studies, human rights, transnational history, migration and refugee law and policy, as well as the history and anthropology of witchcraft. Its comprehensive approach and insightful analysis make it a must-read for those seeking to deepen their understanding of these complex and pressing issues.

Weight: 390g
Dimension: 161 x 241 x 16 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032128474