"Bewitching Development offers a challenging approach to the issue of development and its relationship with witchcraft. In people's perceptions they are as opposed as for outside experts-yet in daily practice they become intertwined in intriguing ways. In analyzing this shifting balance of opposition and interaction Smith succeeds in opening up new perspectives on both development and witchcraft. His innovative interpretations will have a profound influence on ongoing debates since they touch upon urgent issues-the ambivalent appropriation of development from below, marked by the continuing dynamics of ideas about the occult."-Peter Geschiere, University of Amsterdam