Ritual Murder and Witchcraft in Southern Africa in relation to Unity Dow’s The Screaming of the Innocent

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Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1.7, University of Duisburg-Essen, language: English, abstract: In 2002, Unity Dow’s book The Screaming of the Innocent was published. It deals with the topic of ritual murder in Botswana and gives detailed descriptions of the South African belief in witchcraft, traditional healing and ritual murder. Since the book is not based on a true story it is interesting to find out whether the themes Dow writes about are fictitious as well or if they can be related to Botswana’s every-day life. In an interview Unity Dow claims that ritual murder actually still happens in Southern Africa. This essay will have a closer look on some relevant passages of the book The Screaming of the Innocent and will relate them to the religion, the witchcraft belief, the belief in witchdoctors and the topic of ritual murder in Botswana. A comparison will show whether there are parallels between the fictitious story of the book and the real life in this specific area of Southern Africa.