Writings and more
We are working to develop this page as a hub for exploring the issues in the film, and also as a space for you to have your say. Join the debate – use the form at the bottom of the page to add your thoughts, suggest a link or leave a comment.
What makes a woman a witch?
Written by Yaba Badoe for Feminist Africa
“At a time when the social consequences of globalisation are being felt by migrant and indigenous communities throughout the world, it seems pertinent to try and understand what it must be like to be made a scapegoat for social ills: in other words, what it means to be a ‘witch’”…
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Interview with Yaba Badoe
By Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah, for the African Women’s Development Fund
“I stumbled on the Witches camp at Gambaga in 1995 when I was working as a stringer for the BBC World Service in Ghana. I was shocked that, not far from where I was born in Tamale, there were refuges for women believed to be witches”…
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Spellbound: Ghana’s witches find sanctuary
Written by Yaba Badoe for New Internationalist, 2005
“Every year in this part of Ghana, hundreds of women endure communal and domestic violence as a result of traditional religious beliefs that demonize women. It’s also assumed that it is in women’s nature to harm others. These beliefs, combined with decades of poor health and educational standards, mean women inhabit a world where it’s believed that nothing – not even illness or death – happens by chance”…
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The Witches of Gambaga – 10 minute version
Part of the Guardian’s Video Witness series
Click to view the special 10-minute version of The Witches of Gambaga, broadcast in November 2010 on the Guardian website as part of their Video Witness series, showing the best online documentaries from the Guardian.