Abstract
This article explores the role of witchcraft, and in particular of accusations directed against children, in the social reconfigurations that, since 2002, have characterized the post-civil war period in Angola. On the one hand, it highlights the way in which the "witch children" phenomenon, perceived as a social problem, is closely related to bakongo ethnopolitics and with the debate on the place of this ethnic group in Angolan society. On the other, it reveals that, far from being passive elements in this process, children can themselves use accusations as a way to access resources and opportunities that allow them to ascend socially. In this way, the article echoes other studies which, in the last few decades, have identified profound transformations in the status of children and young people in different contexts of the post-Cold War crisis in West Africa. It starts from an ethnography of the social and family reintegration processes of children accused of witchcraft sheltered at Catholic missionary institutions in the capital, Luanda, and Mbanza Kongo, in the Angolan province of Zaire.
Keywords:
Child-witches; Youth; Missions; Angola; Witchcraft; Agency