“Witchdoctors” in White Coats: Politics and Healing Knowledge in Tanzania

At the center of conflict between the state and traditional healers (waganga wa kienyeji) over the meanings of traditional healing in contemporary Tanzania are debates about what constitutes knowledge, the production of knowledge, and the legitimacy of "traditional" ways of knowing. Drawing on media analysis and ethnographic fieldwork carried out between 2004 and 2016, I describe how healers locate their knowledge in experience, ancestors, and spirits, while the state imagines a future where traditional healers are formally educated and practice in white uniforms. While embedded in a larger colonial and postcolonial history, this conflict arose in response to the attribution of violence against persons with albinism to traditional healers.