African divination systems: ways of knowing PDF
Preview African divination systems: ways of knowing
Page i African Divination Systems Page ii African Systems of Thought General Editors Charles S. Bird Ivan Karp Contributing Editors Thomas O. Beidelman James Fernandez Luc de Heusch John Middleton Roy Willis Page iii African Divination Systems Ways of Knowing Edited by Philip M. Peek INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS Bloomington & Indianapolis Page iv © 1991 by Indiana University Press All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses' Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.481984. Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data African divination systems: ways of knowing / edited by Philip M. Peek. p. cm. — (African systems of thought) Includes biliographical references. ISBN 0253343097 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Divination—Africa, SubSaharan. [1. Africa, SubSaharan— Social life and customs.] I. Peek, Philip M. II. Series. BF1773.2.A4A37 1991 133.3'0967—dc20 9039421 CIP 2 3 4 5 95 94 Page v To William Bascom Page vii CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 The Study of Divination, Present and Past Philip M. Peek Part One. Becoming a Diviner 23 The Initiation of a Zulu Diviner 27 Henry Callaway Part Two. The Search for Knowledge 37 Nilotic Cosmology and the Divination of Atuot Philosophy 41 John W. Burton Divination in Madagascar: The Antemoro Case and the Diffusion of 53 Divination Pierre Vérin and Narivelo Rajaonarimanana Part Three. Cultural Systems within Divination Systems 69 Diviners as Alienists and Annunciators among the Batammaliba of Togo 73 Rudolph Blier Divination among the Lobi of Burkina Faso 91 Piet Meyer Page viii Divination and the Hunt in Pagibeti Ideology 101 Alden Almquist Mediumistic Divination among the Northern Yaka of Zaire: Etiology and Ways 112 of Knowing René Devisch Part Four. Divination, Epistemology, and Truth 133 Splitting Truths from Darkness: Epistemological Aspects of Temne Divination 137 Rosalind Shaw Knowledge and Power in Nyole Divination 153 Susan Reynolds Whyte Simultaneity and Sequencing in the Oracular Speech of Kenyan Diviners 173 David Parkin Part Five. Toward a New Approach to Divination 191 African Divination Systems: NonNormal Modes of Cognition 193 Philip M. Peek Afterword 213 James W. Fernandez Contributors 223 Index 225 Page ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Over the extended gestation period of this volume, a number of debts have been acquired. I thank Ivan Karp for his continual encouragement and the many others, most especially my collaborators, who have persevered to complete this project. Our thanks to the editors at Indiana University Press and to various readers, most especially Paula Girshick BenAmos, for many helpful suggestions. I am grateful for several Drew University Faculty Research grants which supported the manuscript preparation and for Deborah Cahalen's aid in preparing the final draft. Inevitably, one must acknowledge the patience of one's spouse and family—"Hey! How does this sound?" can only be asked so many times. Thank you, Pat, Megan, and Nathan. Finally, my sincere appreciation to my colleagues without whose work and forbearance there would be no book for which to offer acknowledgments. With our dedication to William Bascom, we salute his thoughtful and thorough pioneering research on Yoruba divination systems. My thanks to one and all. Page x Political map of Africa showing location of peoples whose divination systems are highlighted, with authors in parentheses.
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