“Studying a people and living among them since 1997 gives the author a powerful perspective in presenting a rich ethnography that weaves experiences, interpretations and representations of the notion of witchcraft among the Jopadhola of eastern Uganda. The author moves the reader from curse to misfortune to fortune as he plots the notion of ‘curse’ as deeply embedded in the Adhola way of life. He weaves between culture, religion, state and modernity with lived experience. Did the concept of witchcraft unwittingly endear the Adhola to the Christian way of life because of the presence of the notion of ‘curse’ in the Bible or make them less susceptible to the vagaries of modernity compared to their neighbours? These are some of the questions that the author puts on the table in a deeply reflective manner. The phenomenon of witchcraft is given an intriguing angle that invites the reader to reexamine earlier anthropological writings on the subject among African peoples. I attest to the thoroughness with which the author approached his fieldwork.”
