The Social Outcasts and the Witches

Historically, women (and men) who were called witches were those who weren’t ‘normal’ or who refused to go with the status quo.

The single, old women who spoke their minds, the people who didn’t stay involved with the local community. Often these people were the easy targets when the witch hunts would start. I doubt many of them (at least in european cultures) were actually in anyway practicing witchcraft, but they were the ones being burnt for it.

In a lot of cases in Europe, witchcraft was the accusation thrown on anyone who didn’t participate in Christianity the same way that the rest of the group did, or as a way to scare populations to change their beliefs during times of reformation. If you look at the statistics of people who were accused and tried for witchcraft throughout human history, the majority of the people accused were lower class women, two modern historians claimed: “[the] typical witch was the wife or widow of an agricultural laborer or small tenant farmer, and she was well known for a quarrelsome and aggressive nature."

Particularly interesting to me is how in history, being different is what causes people to be accused of witchcraft. In 'Akata Witch', the author leans into this, and uses it to give the witches their power. Sunny is albino, and struggles for it. But this albinism alludes to her true ability, making it a narrative reclamation of her differences. Orlu’s dyslexia suggests his powers (something other authors, such as Rick Riordan, have done as well), Chichi lives in a run down shack and is poor (by choice, but still), and Sugar Creams scoliosis alludes to her shapeshifting. In short, what makes them different makes them powerful. A marginalized group narratively retaking something that society says makes them less and making it their power. Even the title does this. Akata is seen as a slur (in the real world too), but it is made into the title.

It’s an interesting take on the archetype of the witch, taking the things that historically killed them and making them their strength. There’s also something to be said by applying this narrative choice to a real world marginalized group (something 'Percy Jackson' sometimes did and 'Harry Potter' never did enough for me).

Historically, women attempting to gain power— or even just women who don’t fit to the current power structure— are made into witches and killed. In 'Akata Witch', they are made into witches and that keeps them alive.