Uncertain Persons in Nyole Divination1
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5160150 |
|---|---|
| Authors | R Whyte (0000-0001-7253-6478, University of Copenhagen, corresponding author), Susan Reynolds Whyte (1Institute of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen) |
| Year | 1990 |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 41-62 |
| Publication date | 1990-01-01 |
| 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 | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1163/157006690x00042 |
| OpenAlex | W2067912587 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 5 |
The posture of uncertainty and questioning in the face of misfortune has been a theme in the study of African religion since EvansPritchard published his study of Zande witchcraft. In one of the most famous passages in anthropological writing, he showed what kinds of questions were raised in Zande minds by events like the collapse of a granary upon people sitting in its shade (1937: 69 ff). He, and other scholars after him, called attention to a persistent feature of African conceptions about misfortune: that the nature of affliction did not specify its cause or the subsequent course of action. Choice was always necessary and divination was seen as 'a ritual means of making a choice' (Jackson 1978: 132 citing Fortes). In this article I want to look more closely at the uncertainty which is addressed in divination. Among the Nyole of Eastern Uganda, misfortune posed questions about persons, their relations, motivations and dispositions. In divination, these questions were examined and answers proposed. Yet uncertainty was never fully resolved; persons and their afflictions were always reconsidered as events unfolded. What was important about Nyole divination was not that it provided a simple answer, but that it constituted a framework for questioning. When Nyole went to divine, they said they were going 'to ask'. The word they used, ohwebusa, was a reflexive form also used in another context. When someone began to tremble and moan, in the way Nyole called ohusamira, indicating spirit possession, people asked (ohwebusa) 'Who are you?' The question was addressed to the possessing spirit, and the reply was of the type, 'I am Buhyera, the clan spirit of the forest' or 'I am Hamba, the big man who died here.' When Nyole said they were going 'to ask' in divination, they meant they wanted to ask the presumed agent of misfortune to reveal itself, to say who it was and what it wanted, so that the suffer
Aesthetics · Consecration · Context (archaeology) · Divination · Epistemology · Linguistics · MAGIC (telescope) · Misfortune · Mythology · Possession (linguistics) · Sociology · Theology · African cultural and philosophical studies · African history and culture analysis · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Classics · History · Philosophy
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,06 |
| Citation span | 1992 - 2016 (25) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |