The Politics of Divination: A Processual View of Reactions to Illness and Deviance Among the Suala of Northern Ghana - Softcover

Mendonsa, Eugene

 
9780595128235: The Politics of Divination: A Processual View of Reactions to Illness and Deviance Among the Suala of Northern Ghana
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0595128238 ISBN 13: 9780595128235
Publisher: iUniverse, 2000

Synopsis

The Politics of Divination, first published in 1982, was a ground breaking work in the political economy of an African culture, the Sisala of Northern Ghana. The author shows how elders use divination as a political tool to control the behavior of women and young men. Gerontocratic control through ritual means is an attempt by elders to dominate the economic activities of youthful men, and the production and reproduction of women. Yet, the elders are not entirely successful in such attempts, and their efforts at social control sometimes have less than altruistic motives, as the many cases in the book show. The author presents divination and ancestral sacrifice in a processual view. Within the context of the divinatory process strategizing elders work and rework the rules of their society to deal with real life situations, illness, misfortune and death. Like many other Africans, the Sisala believe that such misfortunes are ultimatley caused by ancestral anger, which can be seen as a reflection of social tension and conflict among the living. Divination points out deviants in the family who are poised as the cause of such misfortunes, and this conflict is rectified through ancestral propitiation via blood sacrifice on family shrines.

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About the Author

Eugene L. Mendonsa recieved his Ph.D from Cambridge University, with field work in Ghana and Portugal. Teacher and consultant, he provides cross-cultural communications training for corporations. His forthcoming book is Conflict and Change in a West African society: Sisala elders, women & Youth. He teaches anthropology at the University of Colorado.

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Publisher
iUniverse
Publication date
2000
Language
English
ISBN 10 
0595128238
ISBN 13 
9780595128235
Binding
Paperback
Number of pages
292