Witch-Hunt and Conspiracy: The ‘Ninja Case’ in East Java

NICHOLAS HERRIMAN is senior lecturer in Anthropology at La Trobe University. His podcasts on iTunes, including the Audible Anthropologist and Witch-hunts and Persecution, have tens of thousands of listeners. He has written a number of significant and award-winning publications on East Java, including his PhD dissertation—the Australian Anthropological Society’s “Best Thesis” in 2008.

NUS Press (First Published, 2016)
208 pages including References and Index

RM80.00

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Witch-Hunt and Conspiracy: The ‘Ninja Case’ in East Java brings unique insight and prize-winning analysis to an extraordinary story—that of a witch-hunt and ‘ninja’ craze that swept a region of Java, Indonesia, in 1998. When neighbours, family members and friends believed that one among them was a sorcerer, this suspicion would sometimes culminate in the death of the suspect. In 1998, these sporadic killings turned into an outbreak of violence. Muslim organisations attributed the escalation of these killings to political conspirators, alleging that squads of ‘ninjas’ were responsible. A paramilitary group (Banser NU) began preparing and training for an onslaught of further violence, while anxious residents throughout East Java established road-side guards. Dozens of suspected ninjas were caught and some were tortured and killed. Using first-hand accounts, Herriman provides these events with a detailed context and history and analyses their development in terms of the interplay of national institutions and local culture and dynamics. This book represents the culmination of his researching of witch-hunts for more than a decade.

About the Author
Acknowledgements
Notes on Style and Spelling
Glossary
Foreword
Prologue
Introduction

1. Sorcerer Killings
2. Ninja Fear
3. Reform, Regime Change, and Violence
4. Magic and Sorcery
5. Community Justice
6. Fear and Uncertainty
7. Explaining the Killings
8. Conspiracy Theories
9. Conclusion

References
Index

Weight0.320 kg
Dimensions22.9 × 15.2 × 0.7 cm
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