Mass media have played, and continue to play, a large role in the ‘uncovering’ of evil forces. Not only newspapers, radio and television spread news of witchcraft, but in films produced for a mass audience witches and occult forces were (and still are) a popular topic. Geschiere also discusses the role of the Christian revivalist movements, epitomised by Pentecostalism, in the affirmation of evil forces. Just as in La Fontaine’s case [La Fontaine, J. (1998) Speak of the Devil: Tales of Satanic Abuse in Contemporary England, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press], Pentecostalism has played a major role in establishing the reality of the devil. In the vocabulary of charismatic Protestantism, ‘witchcraft is part of a cosmic battle between God and the devil’ [Geschiere, P. (2013) Witchcraft, intimacy and trust: Africa in comparison, Chicago: Chicago University Press: 182-3]. In the minds of his interlocutors, this battle is, however, typically located in the intimacy of the family. Cases of witchcraft also make it to the courts. In the early post-independence period, courts were loath to take up such accusations. These were seen as traditional superstitions and not to be part of modern legislation. Now, because witchcraft is so publicly debated, it has to be taken seriously also by the courts. This, in turn, feeds into ideas of the prevalence and strength of witchcraft.
A claim can be made that conspiracy theory is the impersonal equivalent of witchcraft. But the issue is more complex and ambigious. Contemporary conspiracy accusations seldom involve family members or neighbours, that is people one has intimate or face-to-face relations. Instead, such accusations are often made against named and known others, such as political figures and economically successful individuals, but they are also typically directed at vaguely defined groups of people far away. In his analysis, Geschiere connects the tension between Heimlich-Unheimlich of the family and kin, to the increasing intimacy aslo in the public sphere. In this way, witchcraft and conspiracy theory can be linked in an analytically fruitful manner. That is, close and personal relations – entailing both positive and negative intimacy – have changed into impersonal bonds, and concomitantly public and more distant relations are expressed in increasingly intimate ways. Witchcraft accusations and conspiracy theories feed into each other at this entagled intersection.
– ‘Conspiracy theory as occult cosmology in anthropology’, in Routledge Handbook of Conspiracy Theories (2020), pp. 86-7
A common theme in the research discussed, as has already been stated, is the tension between what can be seen and that which is under the surface. People seek clarity but, instead, encounter opacity. Signs are searched and interpreted. Even hidden urban infrastructure – pipes and electricity lines – may become a site for divination, for finding clarity and answers to the stress of city life [Trovalla, E. and Trovalla, U. (2015) ‘Infrastructure as a divination tool: whispers from the grids in a Nigerean city’, City, 19(2-3): 332-43]. In the realm of witchcraft, evil cosmologies or in ecounters with the uncanny, we may find un-witchers, therapists or support groups, working to find the hidden causes of an individual’s suffering or misfortune […]. In the realm of conspiracy theory, there are experts who devote their life to explaining the unseen connections. There are also similarities between the anthropologist, the un-witcher and the conspiracy expert. The researcher takes note of the observable and then draws conclusions of what really is going on, and of what it all really means, or at least, gives plausible or insightful interpretations.
Ibid., pp. 90-1