Akom
The Ultimate Mediumship Experience Among the Akan
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7213159 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Anthony Ephirim-Donkor (Binghamton University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2008 |
| Volume | 76 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 54-81 |
| Publication date | 2008-02-05 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of the American Academy of Religion (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-7189 • E-ISSN: 1477-4585 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/jaarel/lfm091 |
| OpenAlex | W2053930092 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 2 |
Research on African mediumistic experiences is usually subsumed under "possessions," with no distinction made to differentiate the various degrees and categories of mediumship experiences. This paper makes one such distinction that mediumship experiences among the Akan are aptly described as alighting or alightment. After years of austere training, Akan mediums or Akomfo learn to control, discipline, and refine their initial uncontrolled "insane" experiences. The evidence shows, that the Akomfo are clergy wholly, deriving their vocational authority from a continuum of priests, mediums, doctors, etc., making them essential to Akan religious practices. Entrusted with sacred rites, the Akomfo preserve and protect for posterity the religious and cultural traditions of their ancestors in order to insure ritual continuity and sameness. Focusing on the clergy from three communities in the Central Region of Ghana, the paper follows them from the time that they are "called" to their ordinations as Akomfo, and observes mediumistic practices
Order (exchange · Pedagogy · Sociology · Vocational education · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Cross-Cultural and Social Analysis · Cultural Identity and Representation · Psychology · Social Psychology
Appropriation and Contestation of Akan Traditional Healing Approaches in the Healing of Mentally Ill Patients at Prayer Camps in Ghana
Hard Skies” and Bottomless Questions
Remembering Ɔkomfo Kwabena
Medial Deities and Relational Meanings
Copresent jurisdictions
Charismatic Christianity's Hard Cultural Forms and the Local Patterning of the Divine Voice in Ghana
Vulnerable minds, bodily thoughts, and sensory spirits
| Unique citing works | 7 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,5 |
| Citation span | 2012 - 2024 (13) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 7 |