The Witches of Gambaga: What it Means to be a Witch in the Northern Region of Ghana

Abstract

This is the official report of a study based on the life stories of women in the Old Women’s Home or Witches’ Camp in Gambaga. It examines what it means to be a “witch” in a small provincial town in the Northern Region of Ghana. Exiled from their families and villages, the women are taken to Gambaga by a male rel-ative and placed under the custody of the chief, the Gambarrana. It argues that accusations of witchcraft, overwhelmingly directed at women are rooted in a visceral fear of the potency of women’s innate sexuality, their creative potential for independent sexual and social expression, and their capacity to influence a new generation. It contends that the study of witchcraft is fundamentally a study of gender and sexuality because witches are invariably women in all senses, bio-logically, socially, culturally and spiritually.