Do the Effutu Really Believe That the Spirits Cause Illness? a Ghanaian Case Study
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3932602 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Robert W Wyllie (1Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C. Canada, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1994 |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 228 |
| Publication date | 1994-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Religion in Africa (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-4200 • E-ISSN: 1570-0666 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/1581300 |
| OpenAlex | W4234260189 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 3 |
diagnostic and therapeutic actions are ultimately guided by various spirit-entities, to whom they stand in a special relationship as medium or earthly representative; and that while western medicine may suffice in the treatment of illnesses caused by natural agencies (nkratodobz), only their spiritually-informed expertise can offer cures for spiritually caused illnesses (sunsumtodobt). Interviews with 40 such healers revealed that while they classified illnesses in terms of presumed causes, i.e. naturalistic and spiritualistic, this was not a 'fixed' classificatory system; one case of an illness might be attributed to naturalistic agencies, while another case of the same illness could be due to spiritualistic agencies. There was also evidence of etiological anarchy among the healers in their lack of agreement on the particular naturalistic and spiritualistic agencies implicated in various illnesses. However, they generally displayed a marked preference for naturalistic causal explanations when asked about 12 illnesses which, according to them, were the most commonly encountered in their therapeutic practice. Since their approaches to healing seemed to involve the juxtaposition of a mainly naturalistic etiology and a set of spiritualistic ideas and symbols, it was suggested that the latter may simply provide a conventionally appropriate idiom in which to convey mundane medical information. The present paper looks at illness etiology in Winneba from a different angle by examining the views
Causality (physics) · Epistemology · Etiology · History of religions · Natural (archaeology) · Naturalism · Preference · Psychiatry · Psychotherapist · Set (abstract data type) · Sociology · African cultural and philosophical studies · Contemporary Christian Leadership and Education · History · Medicine · Philosophy · Psychology · Religion and Sociopolitical Dynamics in Nigeria · Religion, Society, and Development · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology · Religious studies · Social Psychology
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,07 |
| Citation span | 1997 - 2005 (9) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |