Dance of Vodoun Sakpata on the occasion of January 10, 2020 - Photo by Ahya ATINDEHOU, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Cases: trafficked women linked to exploiters by voodoo rituals (criminal law) and asylum applications to escape the effects of voodoo rituals (asylum, international protection) 

---

Cultural test

Legal Insights

Anthropological insights

---

Proposed balancing act: in view of the impact on the person, it is considered that the judge should consider the role of voodoo as relevant and therefore recognise that it could create a state of mental slavery which would merit follow up requests for international protection. With regard to criminal law, it is considered, as is already the case in Italian jurisprudence, to recognise the impact that voodoo ritual has in enslavement and trafficking. 

Bibliographic references

Legal Bibliography
 
Cavina, M. (2020). Il missionario, il giudice, il legislatore. Decrittazioni giuridiche della stregoneria nell’Africa occidentale subsahariana (sec. XVII-XX). Historia et Ius, 17/2020.
Decarli, G. (2021). Esperienze di consulenza antropologica nel giudizio di protezione internazionale. L’antropologo antropologo. Diritto, Immigrazione e Cittadinanza, fasc. n. 2/2021.
Del Rosso, F. G. (2020). Il dovere di cooperazione istruttoria officiosa e le "country of origin information" nel procedimento per il riconoscimento della protezione internazionale e umanitaria. Diritti senza confini. Consultabile in https://www.questionegiustizia.it/articolo/il-dovere-di-cooperazione-istruttoria-officiosa-e-le-country-of-origin-information-nel-procedimento-per-il-riconoscimento-della-protezione-internazionale-e-umanitaria
Quassoli, F., & Uboldi, C. (2020). La credibilità del richiedente protezione internazionale tra cultura del sospetto, intuizioni e dilemmi etici. Alcune riflessioni a partire da un’indagine sulle prassi operative delle commissioni territoriali. Diritto, Immigrazione e Cittadinanza, fasc. n. 2/2020.
UNICRI. (2005). La tratta delle minorenni nigeriane in Italia. I dati, i racconti, i servizi sociali.
Van Dijk, R. (2001). “Voodoo on the doorstep: Young Nigerian prostitutes and magic policing in the Netherlands”. Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, 71(4), 558-586.
 
Anthropological bibliography (recommended reading)
 
Blier, S. P. (1995). African Vodun: Art, Psychology, and Power. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
 
Through the analysis of the artistic works of voodoo cultures, the author clearly succeeds in explaining the psychological and social dynamics that characterise these ritual activities, as well as the power games that come into play. A must-read for anyone wishing to delve deeper into the meaning of voodoo rituals and its significance.
 
Anthropological bibliography (for more details)
 
Aronson, L. (2007). "Ewe Ceramics as the Visualization of Vodun." African Arts, 40(1), 80-85.
Bay, E. G. (2008). Asen, Ancestors, and Vodun: Tracing Change in African Art. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Cannon, W. B. (1942). "Voodoo death." American Anthropologist, 44(2), 169-181.
Elwert-Kretschmer, K. (1995). "Vodun et controle social au village." Politique Africaine, 59, 102-120.
Landry Timothy, R. (2008). "Moving to Learn: Performance and Learning in Haitian Vodou." Anthropology and Humanism, 33(1/2), 53-65.
Landry Timothy, R. (2015). "Vodún, Globalization, and the Creative Layering of Belief in Southern Bénin." Journal of Religion in Africa, 45(2), 170-199.
Landry Timothy, R. (2016). "Incarnating Spirits, Composing Shrines, and Cooking Divine Power in Vodún." Material Religion, 12(1), 3-26.
Landry Timothy, R. (2018). Vodún. Secrecy and the Search for Divine Power. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Tall, E. K. (1995). "Dynamique des cultes Voduns et du Christianisme Céleste au Sud-Bénin." Cahiers des Sciences Humaines, 31(4), 797-832.