Transcript Intervention - University of Pennsylvania

CHILD WITCHES PHENOMENON IN
AKWA IBOM STATE, SOUTH - SOUTH
NIGERIA
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIAUNICEF SUMMER PROGRAMME,
JULY 2 – 13, 2013
UNICEF
OUTLINE
• Background
• Description of the Problem/Challenge
• Intervention
UNICEF
BACKGROUND
• Phenomenon of witchcraft is rooted in the traditional
beliefs of the people of the Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria
• It has to do with manipulating and using supernatural
powers to kill, destroy and cause havoc to individuals,
families and community or society
• The child witches phenomenon is therefore based on a
premise that the child is exercising or invoking
supernatural powers to control people or events and
involving sorcery or magic.
• Studies show that the prevalent rate is quite high about
66.42%.
UNICEF
BACKGROUND
• NIGERIA WITH AKWA IBOM STATE INSET IN RED
UNICEF
BACKGROUND CONT.
• Several reasons were given for accusing children of
being witches. They include:
• - varying range of misfortunes in the family or
community, such as sickness and death in the family,
- infertility, loss of a job, and poor sales in the
market.
• Other reasons include children being stubborn; having
abnormal behaviour; being arrogant; having no
respect for elders; rascality; feeling superior to other
children; exhibiting violent behaviour; unsteadiness;
greed; always in a very deep sleep; sleep walking and
mental disorders.
UNICEF
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM
• Children are accused of being witches and are thrown out of
their family homes by their parents.
• They are seen as defiled and capable of defiling other children,
hence are further ostracized by the community members.
• The extreme stigma and discrimination robs these unfortunate
children dubbed witches of any social support network from their
families, communities and churches.
• A number of questions come to mind when trying to deal with
the issue
• Is the phenomenon a Social norm or a Custom?
• If a Social norm or Custom, is it a positive one that should be
allowed to continue to exist, if not, what do we do to bring about
the abandonment of this norm or custom?
UNICEF
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM CONT.
•
Two patterns of behaviours were identified as supporting
this practice.
• They are:
a)The behaviour of accusing the child of practicing witch
craft by the parents and
b) The behaviour of ostracizing the child by the community.
UNICEF
Is the Practice of Accusation of Children of
Practising witchcraft a Custom or a Norm?
•
Children are accused of practicing witchcraft by their
parents when they exhibit certain behaviours, this may be
followed by misfortunes in the family such as sickness,
death, infertility, loss of business, accident etc.
• Most accusers have the personal normative belief that
children practicing witch craft should be punished or in the
alternative seek for help to exorcise them of the evil spirit
• There is also the factual belief that children practicing
witchcraft possess evil spirits or forces and have
supernatural powers to kill, destroy and cause havoc to
individuals, families and community.
UNICEF
Is the Practice of Accusation of Children of Practising
witchcraft a Custom or a Norm?
• This is a case of unconditional preference, since
their decision are based on their factual and personal
normative beliefs
• Hence the practice/behaviour of parents accusing
their children of practicing witchcraft is a custom and
not a Social norm since there is the absence of
Empirical and Normative expectations linked to it.
Cristina Bicchieri, defined Custom as
“… A pattern of behaviour such that individuals prefer
to conform to it because it meets their needs”
UNICEF
Is the Practice of Accusation of Children of Practising
witchcraft a Custom or a Norm?
• Diagnosis
BEHAVIOUR
PATTERNS
EMPIRICAL EXPECTATIONS (EE)
&
NORMATIVE EXPECTATIONS
(NE)
Interdependent Decisions – people
prefer to follow it if others do
DESCRIPTIVE
NORM
EE only
UNICEF
SOCIAL
NORM
EE + NE
FACTUAL BELIEFS
&
PERSONAL NORMATIVE
BELIEFS
Independent Decisions –
People prefer to follow it
irrespective of what others do
CUSTOM
Is the Practice of Ostracising Children by the
Community Members a Social Norm?
• In order to identify a social norm, it needs to be the case that
those who ostracise them are motivated by Empirical and
Normative expectations.
Cristina Bicchieri in her book, The Grammar of Society: The
Nature and Dynamics of Social Norms, 2006, defined Social
Norm as
“A rule of behaviour such that individuals prefer to conform to it
on the condition that they believe that (a) most people in their
relevant network conform to it (empirical expectations) and (b)
most people in their relevant network believe they ought to
conform to it (normative expectations)”.
UNICEF
Is the Practice of Ostracising Children by the
Community Members a Social Norm?
•
The Empirical Expectations are that members of the
community ostracize children who are said to be
witches/practice witchcraft
• The Normative Expectation is that members of the
community believe other members ought to ostracize
children dubbed witches
• The pattern of behavior, beliefs and preferences identified
in the practice of ostracizing children by the community
members can be said to be that of Conditional Preference
where people prefer to follow the observed pattern of
behaviour because others in their reference network follow
it
UNICEF
Schemas And Scripts
• Norms do not exist in isolation; it is embedded in a mesh of
beliefs: Factual beliefs, Attitudes, Normative beliefs, other
norms and Expectations and Ideals (Schemas & Scripts)
• Schemas involve beliefs, expectations and behavioural rules;
they are structures representing knowledge about people and
events. The schemas here are that a child is an indispensable
and useful member of a family and community where he/she
resides. Furthermore, a child with supernatural powers to kill,
cause harm and havoc in the family and community should be
ostracized.
• Scripts according to Cristina Bicchieri, are schemas for social
events; they describe stylized stereotyped sequences of
actions and define actors and roles.
UNICEF
Schemas And Scripts
• The Script is perceived as stable and projectable and
subsequently become legitimate, and a violation of it elicits
a causal retribution.
• The scripts here are that: A child is always obedient,
respectful and useful member of the family and
community/society in which he/she lives or resides.
• A violation of this script elicited the causal attribute of a
child that practices witchcraft is wicked and evil and should
be ostracized, discriminated against and rejected by all
members of the community.
• Norms are part of scripts, this implies that scripts have to
change for there to be a change of an existing practice.
UNICEF
Intervention
• Two practices/ behaviours were identified as fueling
the harmful practice. One is a Custom, the other is a
Social norm
• To deal effectively with the harmful practice, both
practices should be addressed to ensure the
complete elimination of the practice.
• Since custom is a pattern of behaviour preferred to
be conformed to by individuals to meet their needs, it
can be changed by changing the factual beliefs and
attitudes as well as the external conditions that
produce the particular needs.
• Change in the Empirical and Normative expectations
of the social norm of ostracizing children accused of
practicing witchcraft will bring about a norm
compliant change
UNICEF
Intervention
CUSTOM ABANDONMENT – Accusing children of practicing
witchcraft
1.Change of factual beliefs – if persons no longer believed that
witchcraft was real, they would stop accusing children of being
witches. Some have a factual belief that certain children have
the powers of a witch, so if they stopped believing that, they
wouldn't accuse.
2. Change external conditions that produce particular needs–
we need to determine why parents accuse children of being
witches. For instance, If it is because of economic hardship and
starvation, then "changing the external conditions" would include
getting persons out of poverty – Poverty alleviation programme.
3.Change attitudes / preferences - Community coming together
to create a social norm of their not accusing children of being
witches. Individuals might develop a new preference to not
accuse children. In this case, the new social norm changes the
UNICEF
custom.
Intervention
NORM ABANDONMENT – Ostracizing Children
accused of practicing witchcraft
Change of
beliefs/attitude –
Any Child practicing
witchcraft must be
ostracised
Collective decision to
abandon –
Community members
decide to change
their beliefs
Abandon Old
Normative
Expectation –
No child ought be
ostracized
UNICEF
Coordinated action –
Meeting to publicly
declare for the
change of beliefs
New Empirical
expectation –
No child should be
ostracized
Intervention
Tools For Effective Norm Change
Media campaigns - For Change of beliefs, attitudes and
social expectations
Educational campaign – Leading to change of beliefs and
attitudes
Community –driven theater
Intensive verbal group deliberation
Legislation – Legal norm
Other Strategies - Working with the Core group to bring
about diffusion;
- Working with Social Networks to bring about effective
diffusion; Values Deliberation;
UNICEF
- Mockus
Harmonization of Norms – Core moral norms,
Legal norms, and Social norms
Current Intervention
• Integrated Approach
- Community dialogues
- High level advocacy
- Education Campaign
- Media Campaigns
- Community Theater for development
- Legislation
- Child Protection Network
• Institutionalization
UNICEF
Change in Current Practice
• A change in the factual beliefs and attitudes of individuals will
bring about a custom change
• so also will changing the empirical and normative expectations
of a social norm bring about a norm compliant change which
when widely spread among the reference network members
will eventually lead to the norm abandonment.
• This will be achieved through the combination of:
- Media and Education Campaigns
- Community dialogues
- Intensive verbal deliberations with influencers, religious and
traditional leaders
- Working with the Core group to bring about diffusion;
- Values Deliberation;
- Harmonization of Norms – Core moral norms, Legal norms, and
Social norms
UNICEF
Children Accused of being Witches in
CRARN Centre
UNICEF
Current Intervention
UNICEF
BACKGROUND CONT
UNICEF
Child Dubbed Witch on the Street
UNICEF