Pfeiffer James
Department of Anthropology, Case Western Reserve University, USA.
Med Anthropol Q. 2002 Jun;16(2):176-99. doi: 10.1525/maq.2002.16.2.176.
The recent explosive proliferation of African Independent Churches (AICs) in central Mozambique coincided with rapid growth of economic disparity in the 1990s produced by privatization, cuts in government services, and arrival of foreign aid promoted by Mozambique's World Bank/International Monetary Fund Structural Adjustment Program. Drawing on ethnographic research in the city of Chimoio, this article argues that growing inequality has led to declining social cohesion, heightened individual competition, fear of interpersonal violence, and intensified conflict between spouses in poor families. This perilous social environment finds expression in heightened fears of witchcraft, sorcery, and avenging spirits, which are often blamed in Shona ideology for reproductive health problems. Many women with sick children or suffering from infertility turn to AICs for treatment because traditional healers are increasingly viewed as dangerous and too expensive. The AICs invoke the "Holy Spirit" to exercise malevolent agents and then provide a community of mutual aid and ongoing protection against spirit threats.
20世纪90年代，莫桑比克中部非洲独立教会（AICs）迅速激增，与此同时，私有化、政府服务削减以及莫桑比克世界银行/国际货币基金组织结构调整计划推动的外国援助导致经济差距迅速扩大。本文基于对希莫尤市的人种志研究，认为日益加剧的不平等导致社会凝聚力下降、个人竞争加剧、对人际暴力的恐惧以及贫困家庭中配偶间冲突加剧。这种危险的社会环境表现为对巫术、魔法和复仇灵魂的恐惧加剧，在绍纳族意识形态中，这些常常被归咎于生殖健康问题。许多孩子生病或患有不孕症的妇女转向非洲独立教会寻求治疗，因为传统治疗师越来越被视为危险且费用过高。非洲独立教会援引“圣灵”来驱赶恶意力量，然后提供一个互助社区，并持续防范灵魂威胁。
