In addressing the question of whether a nkisi is a fetish, William McGaffey writes that the Kongo ritual system as a whole,

bears a relationship similar to that which Marx supposed that "political economy" bore to capitalism as its "religion", but not for the reasons advanced by Bosman, the Enlightenment thinkers, and Hegel. The irrationally "animate" character of the ritual systems symbolic apparatus, including minkisi, divination devices, and witch-testing ordeals, obliquely expressed real relations of power among the participants in ritual. "Fetishism" is about relations among people, rather than the objects that mediate and disguise those relations. Therefore, McGaffey concludes, to call a nkisi a fetish is to translate "certain Kongo realities into the categories developed in the emergent social sciences of nineteenth century, post-enlightenment Europe." See also
Boli

References
External links
The Catholic Encyclopaedia: Fetishism
Andrew Lang, Fetishism and Spiritualism, The Making of Religion, (Chapter VIII), Longmans, Green, and C°, London, New York and Bombay, 1900, pp. 147–159.
Sarcoma botryoides or botryoid sarcoma is a subtype of embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma, that can be observed in the walls of hollow, mucosa lined structures such as the nasopharynx, common bile duct, urinary bladder of infants and young children or the vagina in females, typically younger than age 8. The name comes from the gross appearance of "grape bunches" (botryoid in Greek). Presentation
For botryoid rhabdomyosarcoma of the vagina, the most common clinical finding is vaginal bleeding but vaginal bleeding is not specific for sarcoma botryoides:  other vaginal cancers are possible. They may appear as a polypoid mass, somewhat yellow in color and are friable: thus, they (possibly) may break off, leading to vaginal bleeding or infections. Histology
Under the microscope one can see rhabdomyoblasts that may contain cross-striations. Tumor cells are crowded in a distinct layer beneath the vaginal epithelium (cambium layer). Spindle-shaped tumor cells that are desmin positive. Treatment
The disease used to be uniformly fatal, with a 5-year survival rate between 10 and 35%. As a result, treatment was radical surgery. New multidrug chemotherapy regimens with or without radiation therapy are now used in combination with less radical surgery with good results, although outcome data are not yet available. Epidemiology
Sarcoma botryoides normally is found in children under 8 years of age. Onset of symptoms occurs at age 3 years (38.3 months) on average. Cases of older women with this condition have also been reported. References
External links
humpath.com #12369