ACPIR Summer Research Scholarship recipient Madison Garner shares an update from the project understanding the role of diviners and healers in witchcraft and sorcery accusations in the Pacific.

Witchcraft and sorcery beliefs have a far-reaching impact on many Pacific Islander cultures. While these beliefs are often benign, they have been known to result in witchcraft and sorcery accusations, with a recent report using data obtained from four provinces in Papua New Guinea (PNG) finding that 29% of accusations involve a Glasman or Glasmeri, a type of diviner who detects and diagnoses sorcery.
To curb violent accusations, the PNG Government recently criminalised the practice; however, as this many traditional healers within the Pacific point to bewitchment as a probable cause of illness, this legislation could inadvertently target Traditional Healing practices. To understand that complexities involved in these accusations, this project is comprised of two parts; a scoping review of literature detailing sorcery accusations and diagnoses made by diviners and traditional healers across sixteen Pacific Island Countries and Territories, and secondary analysis of a dataset collected by ANU that formed the basis of the Glasman/Glasmeri report.
“As I have wanted to pursue a PhD examining witchcraft and sorcery beliefs and accusations for many years, this project directly aligns with my education and research aspirations,” Madison said.
“I have been directly involved in all aspects of the project thus far, including designing protocols, contributing to an ethics application, creating the search strategy and extraction sheet, and performing the searches and screening. Throughout this project I have gained further insight into the research process and gained valuable skills in designing scoping reviews and developing research projects.”

Learn more about the ACPIR project.