1. Can the category 'culture' (or religion) be used?	It depends. While it is certain that the practice of witch-hunting is to be seen in the context of witchcraft-related beliefs, and thus has a well-defined social function, at the same time the practice is often used as a political tool by various governments and social groups, with no other function than political machination.
2. Description of the cultural (or religious) practice and group.	The term 'witch hunt' is used to refer to the persecution of a perceived enemy of the community, often a woman, who is accused of practising witchcraft with methods and objectives that the social group perceives as dangerous. The practices that are condemned include a wide range of acts and circumstances, from medical practices to divination, magic and some sexual and healing practices; generally speaking, these are social behaviours that are rejected by the majority of the community and religious authorities, and are seen as dangerous for the group. The term witchcraft indicates a set of practices aimed at obtaining a transformation of reality by resorting to particular powers; it is not a religion (unlike voodoo, see the entry Voodoo rituals in this Guidebook) endowed with systemicity, but a set of layered behaviours. We could therefore define witchcraft as the set of beliefs, skills and activities attributed to certain persons called witches (there is also the male form, sorcerer, although it is less frequent) who are supposed to be endowed with certain magical abilities useful for the production and resolution of conflicts and the entire mechanism of social control and self-regulation of the community. They act as a release valve in social relations and define certain spaces of interrelation between social groups and between people; a fundamental characteristic of witches, for instance, is the fact that most of the people who exercise such knowledge or are accused of such practices, even without exercising them, are cultural intermediaries, and a large number of them are also cultural mestizos, i.e. 'middle' figures, mediators. These people who occupy an intermediate position in society, and who often move not only between popular and elite culture or between social groups, but also between different cultures and ethnicities, are exposed to the gaze of the entire community and, because of their role in society, are frequently accused of stirring up enmities and being at the centre of conflicts. They are known to many and this visibility makes them easy scapegoats and means that their violations of religious, social, ethical or moral conventions are more quickly highlighted or denounced. Not only are they often accused, but they also often become accusers of others, as they usually know many people, communicate and interact so much with members of the community. Behind every accusation of witchcraft lies the fear of something not fully known, something strange or unknowable. Witch-hunting is therefore an attempt to resolve society's contradictions through punishment, an attempt to explain events (such as a sudden death or social disaster) that cannot be explained by the community's other cognitive tools. Witchcraft beliefs can be used to understand the world, seeking causes for uncertain events, and can be used by political groups as a scapegoat to promote collective violence, functioning as a legal system, a practical tool for manipulation and control, a social philosophy and a conceptual framework for understanding the world. Today, most 'witch hunts' take place in sub-Saharan Africa, with particularly high prevalence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Ivory Coast and Nigeria, but also in Malawi, Ghana, Gambia, Benin and Angola. In addition, the practice is widespread on the Asian and American continents, especially in India, Nepal and Indonesia, and in Brazil and Colombia. Although it is commonly assumed in the Western common imagination that belief in witchcraft is no longer part of current society, the social reality of various contexts shows us that these beliefs are not only still active in contemporary culture, but have been experiencing a moment of particular diffusion and extraordinary adaptation to modernity for several decades now. Sub-Saharan Africa shows a high prevalence of witchcraft beliefs and a notable prevalence of accusatory witch-hunts, which often result in violence. However, it is worthwhile to consider that in most social groups that believe in the power of witchcraft, generally, even when there are accusations, they do not result in violence, and may even be used by the community to obtain benefits from the accused person. For example, in the Beng group of the Ivory Coast, the traditional position of king is occupied by a sorcerer. This man is not evil, far from it; rather, he is supposed to use his mystical powers to protect the group. It is said, in fact, that the Beng territory is constantly attacked by witches and that to protect it, a head of state is needed who is the most powerful witch of all, so as to combat the evil forces that constantly threaten the kingdom.
​3. Embedding the individual practice in the broader cultural (or religious) system.	Witch-hunting must be placed in the context of witchcraft-related beliefs. To understand the meaning and social functions that witchcraft can assume in the various contexts where it is practised, it is important to clarify the concept of symbolism. Human thought, in fact, is organised according to the available symbolic structures, structures that vary from one culture to another or from one socio-cultural group to another, and that respond to a shared symbolic system. When we speak of symbolism, we are therefore talking about a cognitive system that participates in the constitution of knowledge and the functioning of memory. In different social contexts, even within the same culture or the same community, symbolic structures produce a fragmented and differentiated multiplicity of representations, which take the form of different practices: magical, discursive, political, medical, economic practices, etc.; witchcraft-related practices are one of these, and are a tool for approaching and interpreting the context, a bridge between individuals, or societies, and nature. Witchcraft practices, therefore, are part of symbolic systems; they are cognitive apparati and knowledge systems that provide different ways of approaching the world and of constructing and constituting the 'real', as well as of intervening in the world. These practices, and the different symbolic universes from which they are interpreted, observed and thought about, generate different images of 'other' events and entities, and enable their recognition and characterisation. Witchcraft practices are therefore a complex language, a complete symbolic system with an internal logic of operation, which is governed by its own rules, its own 'grammar' and according to its own mechanisms, and acts where other knowledge (such as rationality) is ineffective.
4. Is the practice essential (to the survival of the group), compulsory or optional?	It depends. It is inevitable that witchcraft accusations are an instrument of social control, and that the prosecution of witches as a crime is a form of reordering subjugated sectors of society (minorities, segregated, exploited or subjugated groups). Through criminalisation, the aim is to impose order and control certain practices, individuals, groups or cultural types, which is why some persecution campaigns are implemented out of the political necessity to have a certain cultural homogeneity that allows a certain idea of government to function. Persecution therefore often aims at a certain cultural homogenisation of the subaltern strata of society, just as it did in premodern Europe, when efforts to Christianise priests aimed at homogenisation towards Christianity, yet often resulted in an amalgamation of beliefs and practices of different origins, which still today form part of the heterogeneous cultural heritage of various contexts. At the same time, however, as the work of the Dutch anthropologist Peter Geschiere shows us, in some contexts the accusations of witchcraft can be reciprocal, and if villagers in some communities see witchcraft as a tool used by the elites to achieve their own ends, at the same time for the elites witchcraft is a weapon of the weak against the state, demonstrating how talking about witchcraft means talking about power relations. Witchcraft seems to be characterised by a pervasiveness and ambivalence of its expressions and uses, and appears as a dynamic interplay of notions that reflects and reinterprets new circumstances. It creates a kind of economy and occult politics that has a dual character: on the one hand, it commends new means to achieve otherwise unattainable goals (such as improving life in situations of extreme social exclusion); on the other hand, it serves to give voice to the desire for retribution, to eliminate those towards whom one feels envy, as well as to annul inequalities and social differences.
​5.     Is the practice shared by the group, or is it contested?	Witchcraft accusations usually conceal socially punishable behaviour and serve as a vehicle to restore social order. Often, behind a witchcraft accusation there may be an unexplained death or an attempted murder; therefore, witch hunts are often accompanied by popular consent.
​6.     How would the average person belonging to that culture (or religion) behave?	As indicated above, in situations of condemnation of a witch's actions and a subsequent witch hunt, the average person conforms to the group's will to condemn.
​7.     Is the subject sincere?	As is the case with the practice of voodoo rites (see item Voodoo rituals in this Guidebook), the subject of jurisdictional disputes is not the witchcraft system as a whole, nor even the existence of witchcraft understood in an objective sense, but those cases in which it assumes a function of subjugation and persecution, representing itself in the eyes of the victims, hunted as witches or affected by a ‘witchcraft’ act, as a real source of danger, justifying flight from their community of origin and the request for international protection. Also in this case, the ascertainment of the subject’s sincerity is guided by specific criteria of law and concerns the credibility of the facts narrated by the applicant and the injurious potential of the rite. For the purposes of a more complete understanding of the practice and its damaging scope in the case concretely presented to the judge, one could focus the cognitive investigation on certain elements (in part similar to those highlighted in the Voodoo rituals file, in part more specific and peculiar): the spatial location of the practice, which, as we have seen, is more widespread in some geographical areas than in others; the verification of the historical presence of the phenomenon in the place of origin; the position of the state of origin with respect to witchcraft: in some states, witchcraft practices are criminally prohibited (Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire); in others, both witchcraft acts and witch hunts are prohibited (Nigeria). Attempts to institutionalise the phenomenon or the opposite attempts not to deal with it in any case determine whether the phenomenon operates in the shadows or clandestinely; the possible existence of positions on the phenomenon by local traditional leaders (as happened in Nigeria, in 2018 by the traditional leader Ewuare II, in Edo State, South-East Nigeria, who, on the subject of human trafficking and juju rituals, defused the spell of the rites – see the entry for Voodoo  rituals in this Guidebook). any motives/events or physical characteristics of the individual that in the eyes of the community justify the accusation of witchcraft or the witchcraft act that is assumed.   T is important to emphasise that the existence of a punitive attitude of the State of origin under criminal law is not necessarily a symptom of full protection; on the contrary, in most cases, the phenomena, precisely because of their institutionalisation, are placed outside the areas controlled by the law or, in other cases, are not prosecuted in order not to contradict the will of the people and to pander to private vigilantist phenomena.
8.     The search for the cultural equivalent: the translation of the minority practice into a corresponding (Italian) majority practice. ​	The cultural equivalent is, first and foremost, historical. Western Europe experienced the phenomenon of witch-hunting, over a vast period from the late 15th to the 18th century, with the connotations of violence that history has vividly preserved. In the places where the practice is widespread today, one can find many characteristics similar to European witchcraft, although sometimes that same level of institutionalisation is absent, which makes the phenomenon more occult, apparently reducing its real scope and spread. It is possible to find many elements in common between historical and contemporary witch hunts: the attribution of witchcraft powers for particular physical characteristics, character, social roles or uncomfortable ideas that differ from the community patterns professed by the accused witch; the political use of the phenomenon to curry favour with the populations and find a scapegoat for economic and social crises, epidemics and other misfortunes. Secondly, cultural equivalents more in keeping with contemporary times can be found in the majority culture, in those common practices of labelling certain individuals as people who 'bring bad luck' and in the consequent process of social exclusion. Although these phenomena have different consequences - because they arise in cultural contexts in which the supernatural assumes a less pregnant role, where the vigilance of civil society and the state avoids the extreme phenomena that follow the identification of the 'witch' - it is nevertheless true that even in the majority culture the repercussions that such accusations can have on the psyche of the individual have been highlighted many times: including social isolation, depressive phenomena, attempted or consummated suicides, in the most serious hypotheses. With regard to the fear of having been subjected to a witchcraft act and perceiving its evil significance in one's own or one's loved ones' physical ailments, there is a similar cultural equivalent in that this fear may also be present in the majority culture. One thinks, for example, of those cases, made known in the news, in which individuals, although perfectly integrated into society, found themselves squandering their means in an attempt to stem the 'risk' of pathologies and nefarious events on their loved ones, asking for protection from sorceresses and healers who offered deliverances from evils for a fee.   Finally, one must recall the strong faith that part of the majority culture continues to have in traditional forms of medicine, consisting of secret formulas and mechanisms practised only by a few individuals who have had the honour of acquiring them from the elders, and the strong belief, widespread among many, that ills and maladies can have an origin in the supernatural or in negative energies transmitted even involuntarily by other individuals. If such beliefs retain a potential for influencing the lives of people in a secularised majority culture, even though they are no longer anchored to a structured religious and cultural substratum on the subject of the supernatural, think of the impact such practices can have in contexts where spiritualism has a permeating power in daily life and society is unable to curb the damaging consequences on victims.
9.      Does the practice cause harm? ​	Being labelled as a 'witch' in the above-mentioned cultural contexts can lead to very serious consequences for the person, ranging from being totally excluded from the community (prevention of access to basic necessities, water or food, abandonment of the child/children to themselves because they are considered to be witches/witch-like), to being subjected to violence, torture imprisonment without safeguards and control, to being subjected to tests with the ingestion of toxic and potentially lethal concoctions, up to death, which may occur either as a consequence of such poisoning or in other atrocious ways (as highlighted in the UNHCR report, which shows some varied cases of the killing of individuals accused of witchcraft). The dangers cannot always be stemmed by seeking protection from the state. In some states, in fact, the very acts of witchcraft are punished, and with them the suspected perpetrators, while in others, attempts are made to stem the phenomenon of witch-hunting by punishing the acts of violence perpetrated in it. Often, however, this leads to accusations of witchcraft acting in the shadows anyway, especially in communities far from the eye of the state. Sometimes governments remain complacent about such witch-hunting practices, the so-called vigilantism phenomena, in order to please the population. The fear of witchcraft has similar effects to those mentioned in the entry on voodoo rites (see Voodoo rituals in this Guidebook). Subjects fear for their own health and that of their loved ones, attribute their ailments to such evil spells, experience depressive syndromes and change their lifestyle habits, even to the point of fleeing their country of origin.
​10.  What impact does the minority practice have on the culture, constitutional values, and rights of the (Italian) majority?	In the host culture, 'witch hunts' are more likely to be understood as harmful because the labelling of a person as a 'witch' or sorcerer is linked to persecution in the majority view. However, there is also a tendency to regard it as a mere superstitious belief, an erroneous and exaggerated perception of the claimant, a tale too far-fetched for contemporary Italian society. With regard to the fear of having suffered a witchcraft act (see also Voodoo rituals in this Guidebook) and of therefore being the victim of a 'witch's' spell, the impression on the Italian majority is that the subject is the victim of naive beliefs based on superstition, due to limited social, economic and educational conditions, or that the tale is invented and stereotyped, used for pure opportunism and to receive acceptance in the host country. When viewed from a 'persecutory' perspective, witch-hunting has a strong impact on the constitutional values of the freedom of the individual and his dignity, becoming an instrument capable of violating the most fundamental good of all, that of human life. Such an instrument goes against the value of solidarity between individuals and calls into question the duty of states to protect their citizens. When these fail, it should generate the activation of the value of welcoming the persecuted foreigner forced to leave his homeland for survival, enshrined in Article 10 of the Constitution. On the subject of international protection, there is a widespread idea in the majority culture that the reception of foreigners, whether justified or not, undermines the value of security and public order. Reception is perceived as an emergency procedure, in response to an extemporaneous and pathological phenomenon; a mechanism to be implemented with caution and only in cases of extreme gravity, to be kept under strict control for fear of lack of resources. Requests for protection due to the risk of incurring a real 'witch hunt' are shared by the majority; conversely, the values of security and public order prevail in cases of witchcraft, in which the subject complains of the consequences of a witchcraft act suffered on his or her body. Being accused of being a witch or a sorcerer exposes one's life to particularly serious dangers and calls into question the enjoyment of fundamental rights, which are largely exercisable in the majority society: personal freedom, physical integrity, the right to equality, (when discriminated against in relation to the rest of the community or when directed at women or children), as well as the right to adequate judicial protection of rights.
​11.   Does the practice perpetuate patriarchy?	The practice of witch hunts perpetuates patriarchy because in many cases the victims of witchcraft accusations are women and very often minors. However, unlike historically in Europe, witchcraft accusations are now also made against men in some areas. The gender factor must be an important element that the judge refers to, but it must also be considered that, unlike some other practices, witchcraft can affect both sexes. In the case of those who feel themselves to be the victims of evil spells, one cannot speak of patriarchy as it is common for the act of witchcraft to be directed at both sexes.
12.  What good reasons does the minority present for continuing the practice? The criterion of an equally valid life choice.	As has already been pointed out, in contexts where individuals require protection from specific cultural practices that they do not share and consider harmful, the good reasons for carrying out the practice by those individuals in the community who do share it should be highlighted in order to better understand its diffusion in the places of origin, its pervasiveness and thus the inevitable risk to which those who shun it are subjected (see the Voodoo (rituals) and Female Genital Mutilation tabs in this Guidebook). The 'accusers' find in witchcraft the reason for certain evils, specifically not the 'how' but the 'why' they occurred. Accusations of witchcraft often spread at times of crisis in communities, and respond to a need, typical of human beings, to seek the cause of their evils in specific individuals. In these communities, there are no alternative life choices, in which the supernatural is devoid of all value, because it is, as highlighted above, a system that permeates society, albeit at different levels. The conditions of social economic hardship and the use that political power often makes of these beliefs facilitate vigilantism and keep alive a kind of social-political alliance, which is already severely undermined. Moreover, these beliefs are deeply rooted in African culture, which attaches great importance to the supernatural. This justifies both the fear of being a victim of evil, of having a witch or a sorcerer in the community, but even more so the demand for protection of the accused, due to the common absence of any effective solution that guarantees the protection of the life of the accused.