Publisher's Synopsis
Similar to magic, development's promise of a better world elicits both hope and suspicion from Wataita. Smith shows that the unforeseen changes wrought by development-greater wealth for some, dashed hopes for many more-foster moral debates that Taita people express in occult terms. By carefully chronicling the beliefs and actions of this diverse community-from frustrated youths to nostalgic seniors, duplicitous preachers to thought-provoking witch doctors-BewitchingDevelopment vividly depicts the social life of formerly foreign ideas and practices in postcolonial Africa.