Isak Niehaus

After attending school in Oudtshoorn (a semi-desert town which is the centre of South Africa’s ostrich farming industry), I studied social anthropology at the universities of Cape Town and the Witwatersrand. Since then I held teaching positions at the universities of the Witwatersrand, Natal and Pretoria; served as Visiting Professor at Yale University; and I have given guest lectures at Universities of Stellenbosch, Venda, Leuven, Uppsala and also at Connecticuit College. In 2007 I joined the staff of Brunel University.       

I have conducted fieldwork in two different ‘homeland’ areas of South Africa. From 1983 to 1986 I did research on the social effects of population relocations in Qwaqwa. This work was done in the tradition of anti-apartheid exposé ethnography and focused specifically upon household formation and labour force participation. Since 1990 I studied the escalation of witchcraft accusations in Bushbuckridge. At a theoretical level, I sought to work towards a synthesis of ethnographic and historical methods, and of political economic and symbolic concerns.

My research resulted into the publication of a monograph Witchcraft, Power and Politics: Exploring the Occult in the South African Lowveld (Pluto Press, 2001) and a number of essays on the ecology of belief, the symbolic meanings of witch familiars and zombies, and on the politics of witchcraft accusations and witch-hunting. My more recent fieldwork focuses on biography, masculinity and de-industrialisation, and on anti-crime squads. I have recently completed a monograph entitled Witchcraft and a Life in the New South Africa (Cambridge University Press, 2011).

It tells the life story of my former research assistant who died tragically from tuberculosis whilst he accused his father of witchcraft. The study explores the utility of the anthropological biography as a method of dialogical writing. 

Qualifications

• 1997: PhD, Social Anthropology, University of the Witwatersrand
• 1987: M. Soc Sci, Social Anthropology, University of Cape Town
• 1984: B. Soc Sci (Honours), Social Anthropology, University of Cape Town
• 1982: B. Soc Sci, University of Cape Town (Majors in Social Anthropology, Sociology and Psychology)

• Institutions and Beliefs: an Introduction to Social Anthropology(SA1004)
• History and Theory (SA2020)
• Ethnographies of the Contemporary World: Africa (SA2010)
• Kinship and New Directions (SA3030).
• Ethics Officer, Department of Anthropology, Brunel University
• Director of Undergraduate Studies in Anthropology Brunel University

Research Interests

Cosmology, witchcraft, politics, violence, gender and sexuality, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, violence, crime, in southern Africa  

PhD Supervision

• Political Anthropology
• Cosmology and Religion
• Sexuality and Aids
• southern Africa

Publications

Journal Papers

(2012) NIEHAUS, I., Endnote: Comparing South Asian and South African Suicide, Contributions to Indian Sociology 1 & 2 209- 231

(2012) NIEHAUS, I., Witchcraft and the South African Bantustans: Evidence from Bushbuckridge, South African Historical Journal 1 1- 18

(2010) NIEHAUS, I., Maternal incest as moral panic: Envisioning futures without fathers in the South African lowveld, Journal of Southern African Studies 36 (4) : 833- 849

(2010) NIEHAUS, I., Witchcraft as subtext: deep knowledge and the South African public sphere, Social Dynamics 36 (1) : 65- 77

(2009) NIEHAUS, I., Beyond the utility of violence: interpreting five homicides in the South African lowveld, Focaal 2009 (54) : 16- 32

(2008) NIEHAUS, I., CA Comment. Life & times of magda A: Telling a story of violence in South Africa, Current Anthropology 49 (2) : 238- 239

(2007) NIEHAUS, I., Death before dying: understanding of AIDS stigma in the South African Lowveld, Journal of Southern African Studies 33 (4) : 845- 860

(2006) NIEHAUS, I., Biographical Lessons: Life Stories, Sex and Culture in Bushbuckridge, South Africa, Cahiers d'Etudes Africaines 1 (181) : 51- 73

(2006) NIEHAUS, I., Doing politics in Bushbuckridge: Work, welfare and the South African elections of 2004, Africa 76 (4) : 526- 548

(2005) NIEHAUS, I., David Hammond-Tooke: An Obituary, Anthropology Today 2 26-

(2005) NIEHAUS, I., CA Comment. Forum on Anthropology in Public. How to Ignore Corruption, Current Anthropology 1 115- 116

(2005) NIEHAUS, I., Witches and zombies in the South African lowveld: Discourse, accusations and subjective reality, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 11 (2) : 191- 210

(2005) NIEHAUS, I., Dr. Wouter Basson, Americans and Wild Beasts: Men’s Conspiracy Theories of HIV/AIDS in the South African Lowveld, Medical Anthropology 24 (2)

(2004) NIEHAUS, I. and STADLER, J., Muchongolo Dance Contests: Deep Play in the South African Lowveld, Ethnology 43 (4)

(2003) NIEHAUS, I., Inaugurating an Age of Bliss? The Millenial Aspects of Witch-Hunting in the South African Lowveld, Anthropology Southern Africa 1 53- 62

(2002) NIEHAUS, I., Perversions of Power: Witchcraft and the Sexuality of Evil in the South African Lowveld, Journal of Religion in Africa 3 1- 31

(2002) NIEHAUS, I., Ethnicity and the Boundaries of Belonging: Reconfiguring Shangaan Identity in the South African Lowveld, African Affairs 3 557- 583

(2002) NIEHAUS, I., Renegotiating Masculinity in the South African Lowveld: Narratives of Male to Male Sex in Labour Compounds and in Prisons, African Studies 1 77- 97

(2002) NIEHAUS, I., Bodies, heat and taboos: Conceptualizing modern personhood in the South African lowveld, Ethnology 41 (3) : 189- 207

(2000) NIEHAUS, I., Coins for Blood and Blood for Coins: From Sacrifice to Ritual Murder in the South African Lowveld, 1930-2000, Etnofoor 2 31- 54

(2000) NIEHAUS, I., Towards a Dubious Liberation: Masculinity, Sexuality and Power in South African Lowveld Schools, 1953-1999, Journal of Southern African Studies 3 387- 407

(1998) NIEHAUS, I., Society. Religion and the Making of Witchcraft: Continuity and Change in the South African Lowveld, 1864-1995, Africa Zamani: A Journal of African History 6 50- 82

(1998) NIEHAUS, I., The ANC's Dilemma: The Symbolic Politics of Three Witch-Hunts in the South African Lowveld, 1990-1995, African Studies Review: the journal of the African Studies Association 3 93- 118

(1995) NIEHAUS, I., Witches of the Transvaal Lowveld and their Familiars: Conceptions of Duality, Power and Desire, Cahiers d'Etudes Africaines 2 (138) : 513- 540

(1994) NIEHAUS, I., Disharmonious Spouses and Harmonious Siblings: Conceptualising Household Formation Among Urban Residents in Qwaqwa, Afrioan Studies 1 115- 135

(1993) NIEHAUS, I., Witch-Hunting and Political Legitimacy: Continuity and Change in Green Valley, Lebowa, 1930-1991, Africa 4 498- 530

(1989) NIEHAUS, I., Relocation into Tseki and Phuthaditjhaba: A Comparative Ethnography of Planned and Unplanned Removals, African Studies 2 157- 182

(1988) NIEHAUS, I., Domestic Dynamics and Wage Labour: A Case Study Among Urban Residents in Qwaqwa, African Studies 2 121- 143

Book Chapters

(2010) NIEHAUS, I., 'Witchcraft', 'Magic' and 'South African Anthropology'. In: Barnard, A. ed. Encyclopaedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology.

(2010) Niehaus, I., Adam Kuper: an anthropologist’s account. In: James, D., Plaice, E. and Toren, C. eds. Culture Wars: Context, Models and Anthropologists' Accounts. Oxford, New York : Berghahn Books 170- 188

(2010) NIEHAUS, I., 'Like something that happened to Jacob Zuma’: on corruption and conspiracies in the South African Lowveld. In: Chabal, P. and Skalnik, P. eds. Africanists on Africa: Current Issues. Berlin : Lit Verlag (41) : 153- 168

(2009) NIEHAUS, I., Leprosy of a deadlier kind: Christian conceptions of AIDS in the South African lowveld. In: Becker, F. and Geissler, W. eds. AIDS and religious practice in Africa. Brill Academic Pub 309- 333

(2008) NIEHAUS, I., Witchcraft: Witchcraft and Politics. In: Middleton, J. and Miller, J. eds. New Encyclopaedia of Africa. Farmington Hills : Charles Scribner's Sons (5) : 232-235-

(2007) NIEHAUS, I., Divination Objects from the South African Lowveld. In: Dungamanzi/Stirring Water. Johannesburg : Wits University Press 175-194-

(2007) NIEHAUS, I. and Sikhauli, E., Tsonga Divination in the South African Lowveld. In: Dungamanzi/Stirring Water. Johannesburg : Wits University Press 171- 174

(2005) NIEHAUS, I., Violence and the Boundaries of Belonging: Comparing Two Border Disputes in the South African Lowveld. In: Violence and Belonging: The Quest for Identity in Post-Colonial Africa. London and New York : Routledge 91- 111

(2005) NIEHAUS, I., Masculine domination and sexual violence: Interpreting accounts of three cases of rape in the South African Lowveld. In: Reid, G. and Walker, L. eds. Men behaving differently: South African men since 1994. Cape Town : Double Storey 65- 88

(2004) NIEHAUS, I., Dreams. In: Peek, P. and Yankah, K. eds. African Folklore: An Encyclopaedia. London and New York : Routledge 99- 101

(2004) NIEHAUS, I., Witchcraft and Witch-Cleansing Movements. In: Kuper, A. and Kuper, J. eds. The Social Science Encyclopaedia. London and New York : Routledge (2) : 1067- 1070

(2004) NIEHAUS, I., 'Now Everyone is Doing It': Conceptulaising Transformations of Sexual Violence in the South African Lowveld. In: Welpe, I., Thege, B. and Henderson, S. eds. The Gender Perspective. Frankfurt : Peter Lang 368- 401

(2003) NIEHAUS, I., A Critical Review of the Ralushai Commission Report. In: Witchcraft Violence and the Law in South Africa. Pretoria : Protea Book House

(2002) NIEHAUS, I., Witchcraft in Anthropological Perspective. In: Haviland, W., Gordon R. and Vivcano, L. eds. Talking About People: Readings in Cultural Anthropology. Boston : McGraw Hill 194- 199

(2001) NIEHAUS, I., 'Witch Doctor' and 'Zombies'. In: Blakemore, J. and Jennet, S. eds. Oxford Encyclopaedia of the Body. London : Oxford University Press 699- 710

(2001) NIEHAUS, I., Witchcraft in the New South Africa: From Colonial Superstition to Post-Colonial Reality. In: Moore, H. and Sanders, T. eds. Magical Interpretations, Mystical Realities: Modernity, Witchcract and the Occult in Postcolonial Africa. London and New York : Routledge 184- 205

(2000) NIEHAUS, I., Christianisme, apartheid et genese de la sorcellerie le Lowveld Sud-Africain. In: Dynamiques Religieuses en Afrique Australe. Paris : Karthala 207- 238

(1997) NIEHAUS, I., Dreams and Dream Interpretation. In: Encyclopaedia of Africa South of the Sahara. New York : Simon and Shuster (Volune 1) : 500- 5002

(1997) NIEHAUS, I., A Witch Has No Horn: The Subjective Reality of Witchcraft in the South African Lowveld. In: Culture and the Commonplace: Anthropological Essays in Honour of David Hammond-Tooke. Johannesburg : Wits University Press

Books

(2012) NIEHAUS, I., Witchcraft and a Life in the New South Africa. Cambridge University Press

(2009) NIEHAUS, I. and McNeill, F., Magic: AIDS Review 2009.. Centre for the Study of AIDS

(2001) NIEHAUS, I., Witchcraft, power and politics: exploring the occult in the South African lowveld. London: Pluto Press