ABSTRACT
This chapter continues discussion on the subject of sorcery accusation related violence in PNG. Having demonstrated in the previous chapter how sorcery accusation related violence became mislabelled ‘violence against women’, in this chapter the author examines the international development community’s response to this complex challenge. As becomes starkly clear, lessons that should have been learnt with respect to achieving transformative change (detailed in Chapter 2) have not been applied. Instead, the response has focused on (1) change to law and policy (in a country with a pluralist legal system and no effective state rule of law) and (2) application of ‘fixed knowledge’ to an issue that requires practical wisdom. The chapter offers examples of where practical wisdom has been used in response to sorcery accusation related violence in PNG by people who are deeply embedded in their communities, but also demonstrates the ways in which this practical wisdom has been side-lined within institutional responses.
