Nicholas Herriman

Witch-Hunt and Conspiracy: The 'Ninja Case' in East Java Nicholas Herriman

This book 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. Nicholas Herriman shows, on the basis of first-hand accounts, how killings occur when neighbours, family members and friends believe that one among them is a sorcerer. The usually sporadic killings of 'sorcerers' turned into an outbreak in 1998. Muslim organisations attributed the killings to conspirators, alleging that 'ninjas' had been responsible. In response, a paramilitary group (Banser NU) began preparing and training for an onslaught while anxious residents throughout East Java established road-side guards. Dozens of suspected ninjas were caught and some were tortured and killed. Herriman provides a detailed context and history of these events and analyses their development in terms of the interplay of local culture and dynamics (gossip, suspicion of 'sorcerers', violence) and national institutions (the state, political parties, NGOs and the press). About the author Nicholas Herriman is Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at La Trobe University. His podcasts on iTunesU, including the Audible Anthropologist and Witch-hunts and Persecution have tens of thousands of listeners. He also regularly contributes opinion pieces to the mainstream media. Based on more than one year's fieldwork, 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. This book represents the culmination of researching witch-hunts for more than a decade.