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Charlatans use religion to validate acts
A recent Issue Paper by RegNet’s Miranda Forsyth and Ibolya Losoncz, William Kipongi, Anton Lutz, Philip Gibbs and Fiona Hukula has been featured on the front page of PNG’s leading newspaper, Post Courier.
Spread across various sections in the newspaper, the articles highlighted findings from the report on the role of glasman/glasmeri as catalysts of sorcery accusations and of the accusations turning into violence. Read the newspaper articles here.
Titled Accusation Related Violence In Papua New Guinea: The Role of Glasman/Glasmeri As Catalysts of Accusation and Violence, the research paper by the National Research Institute discusses the role of glasman/glasmeri in the phenomena of Sorcery Accusation-Related Violence (SARV) in Papua New Guinea and is based on a multi-year mixed methods study of SARV.
It reports on the types of people who act as glasman/glasmeri, their motivations and self-identity. A major finding of the study is the significance of the role of glasman/glasmeri in the crystallising of suspicions of sorcery into specific accusations against individuals, and the catalytic impact this has on violent responses.
Read the Issue Paper here.
