Monday. October 30, 2000
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 3
1
It's all for the kids
Mieko, a senior from Nagano, Japan, paints a child's face at the second annual Sigma Gamma Rho Halloween party for children. National Panhellenic Council members helped to set up the party for residents with children who live in Stouffer Place. Photo by Ashley Bonebrake/KANSAN
Jason Hyland, Miami junior, spooks a young visitor at a haunted house at the Boys and Girls Club, 1520 Haskell Ave. Friday, fraternity members directed the children through tunnels and eerie rooms. Photo by Thad Allender/KANSAN
Panel discusses African views of witchcraft
By J.D. McKee
By J. D. McKee
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Even though Africa is an ocean away, children there hear scary stories about witches and ghosts similar to stories told to American children.
With Halloween tomorrow, the African Students Association decided it was the perfect time to explain differences between African culture and American culture Saturday in its panel discussion "Witchcraft in Africa."
"Halloween is when Americans talk about spirits and evil things."
said Oben Julius, vice president of the association and Cameroon junior. "It's timely to put it in a week with Halloween."
Julius said he wanted to educate people about what distinguished African culture.
"We want people to know what is different about our culture, which is really different from American culture," he said. "There are a lot of misconceptions about what's going on in Africa."
Peter Ukpokodu, chairman of the African and African-American Studies department and a Nigeria native, said in Africa,
witchcraft was blamed for every thing from miscarriages to incurable diseases.
Ukpokodu also said that although witchcraft was often tied to Satanism in Western cultures, there was such a thing as good witchcraft.
"There are powers in nature, and there are people capable of these powers," Ukpokodu said. "Some use it for good, some for bad."
Clive Nyanumba, Kenya senior,
said children in Africa often lived
in fear because of stories they had
heard about witches.
"Children are made fearful of the
night because of stories they heard," Nyanumba said.
This was the first panel held by the association this year.
"We are hoping to have meetings about the different aspects of our culture about once or twice a semester," said Yibonka Yainjo, president of the association and Cameroon senior.
Yainjo said the panels were open to everyone, regardless of whether they were members of the association. She also said students didn't have to be from Africa to join the association.
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