Actualité de la sorcellerie aux Antilles
Abstract
Two surveys carried out amongst young people in Guadeloupe have shown that belief in witchcraft is as deeply ingrained in the youth as it is in older people. Magical persecution is attributed to “jealousy”. This feeling is expressed in the surveillance of each other, which is a strong feature of relations of proximity. It leads to certain abuses in interactions, the most serious of which being magical persecution. In this article, the author compares various characteristics of West-Indian, African and European (North-West France) witchcraft, particularly the rules governing the imputations of witchcraft, the more or less official status of this belief, and communication with others on the subject.