ABSTRACT
I have discussed the theoretical issues that arose as I compared sorcery with conspiracy suspicions, two types of causal explanations that are neither identical nor neatly separated. Both are theories that attribute blame for misfortune to a villainous “other.” Because they have similarities, each can foster the development of the other, not just in Zimbabwe but across cultures. People who resort to them are trying to make sense of the AIDS epidemic through nested causality and shifting discourses.
