Uchawi (kwaKiingereza "Witchcraft") ninguvu zinazotumiwa na watu wenye maarifa maalumu yasiyo yakisayansi katikajamii nyingiduniani (zikiwemo zaAfrika,Asia,Ulaya n.k.), ingawa kuna tofauti nyingi kulingana na mahali au utamaduni.
Lengo lake ni kujaribubahati ya mtu na kujilinda na maadui wengine kimazingara, au kwa ajili ya kujifurahisha, japo wenyeimani potofu hulichukulia maanani na kupandikiza chuki kwa ndugu jamaa hata jirani kuwa ni mchawi.
Kwa mujibu wavitabu vyadini uwezo na nguvu zote za asili ni zaMuumba wambingu naardhi na vyote vilivyomo, hivyo yeye anampamwanadamu uwezo kadiri tofautitofauti kama apendavyo, kwa maana uwezo huo hufanyakazi katika hali ya kubahatisha, yaani ni bahati, hakuna mwenyemamlaka ya kuongoza uwezo huo wa asili ilaMwenyezi Mungu.
Kadiri ya dini mbalimbali watu wote wanaotumia nguvu hizo za asili katika hali (hasi) wapo kinyume naMunguMuumbaji wambingu nadunia, hawajui kuwa yeye ndiye mwanzilishi wa nguvu zote za asili ikiwa ni pamoja na wanadamu.
Elimu pia inaweza kusaidia kuondoa imani hizo kwani hata baadhi yamadhehebu ya dini zinachochea kuziamini imani hizo. Wasomi wakarne ya 21 wanapinga imani hizo potofu ambazo zimesababishamateso kwawazee wasio na hatia hasavijijini wakishtumiwa uchawi. Tena kumekuwa na mafarakano nachuki katika jamii nafamilia mbalimbali kwa ajili ya imani ya uchawi; kwa mfano, watu kuuana, kuharibianamali namifugo kwa kuhisiana uchawi kwa sababu ya watu waliopandikizwa imani za kishirikina.
Serikali yaTanzania imetumia jitihada zaidi pamoja na kuelimisha wananchi hasa kutokana na suala la imani potofu na tafsiri mbaya ya uchawi ambayo imepelekea watu takribani 5000 kupotezauhai toka mwaka1961 kutokana na mateso, kuchomewanyumba na vibanda katikamikoa yaTabora,Kigoma,Shinyanga na mikoa mingine; ni vilevile katika sehemu mbalimbali zaAfrika ya Mashariki naya Kati. Mwaka2008Rais wa TanzaniaJakaya Kikwete alilaani uchawi kama chanzo chamauaji ya maalbino 25. Imani hizo potofu ni maarufu hata kwa viongozi japo kwasiri.
University of Kansas Publications in Anthropology, No. 5 = John M Janzen and Wyatt MacGaffey:An Anthology of Kongo Religion: Primary Texts from Lower Zaïre. Lawrence, 1974.
Studia Instituti Anthropos, Vol. 41 = Anthony J. Gittins:Mende Religion. Steyler Verlag,Nettetal, 1987.
Boyer, Paul and Stephen Nissenbaum, eds.The Salem Witchcraft Papers: Verbatim Transcripts of the Legal Documents of the Salem Witchcraft Outbreak of 1692, Volumes I and II. New York: De Capo Press, 1977.
Gaskill, Malcolm. "Masculinity and Witchcraft in Seventeenth-century England." InWitchcraft and Masculinities in Early Modern Europe, edited by Alison Rowlands, 171-190. New York: Palgrave-McMillan, 2009.
Hutton, Ronald (1999)The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft, Oxford, OUP.
Hyatt, Harry Middleton.Hoodoo, conjuration, witchcraft, rootwork: beliefs accepted by many Negroes and white persons, these being orally recorded among Blacks and whites. s.n., 1970.
Kent, Elizabeth. "Masculinity and Male Witches in Old and New England."History Workshop 60 (2005): 69-92.
Levack, Brian P. ed.The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America (2013)excerpt and text search
Moore, Henrietta L. and Todd Sanders 2001.Magical Interpretations, Material Realities: Modernity, Witchcraft and the Occult in Postcolonial Africa London: Routledge.
Notestein, Wallace. A history of witchcraft in England from 1558 to 1718. New York : Crowell, 1968
Pentikainen, Juha. "Marnina Takalo as an Individual." C.JSTOR. 26 February 2007.
Pentikainen, Juha. "The Supernatural Experience." F. Jstor. 26 February 2007.
Pócs, Éva (1999).Between the Living and the Dead: A perspective on Witches and Seers in the Early Modern Age. Budapest: Central European University Press.ISBN963-9116-19-X.
Ruickbie, Leo (2004)Witchcraft out of the Shadows: A History, London, Robert Hale.
Stark, Ryan J. "Demonic Eloquence," inRhetoric, Science, and Magic in Seventeenth-Century England (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2009), 115-45.
Makala hii kuhusu mambo ya utamaduni bado nimbegu. Je, unajua kitu kuhusuUchawi kama historia yake au mahusiano yake na mada nyingine? Labda unaona habari katika Wikipedia ya Kiingereza au lugha nyingine zinazofaa kutafsiriwa? Basi unaweza kuisaidia Wikipedia kwakuihariri na kuongeza habari.
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