Experiencing new worlds and encountering new dilemmas, magic, wisdom, truth: all of these elements characterizes the context of the book Of Water and Spirit by Malidona Patrice Some. Here, magic and everyday life come to an affinity, and respect and rituals are necessary tools to survive. The author portrays the Dagara culture in a very specific way. This culture makes no differentiation between what is natural, or "normal", and what is supernatural, or magical. Ancestors compound the core of communities and individuals. These higher beings are present in ordinary life activities and actions. They constitute the connection between this world and another. Every person is believed to be born with a mission. It is that person's duty to fulfill that mission for the interest of the community. "Malidona" in the Dagara language means "befriend with the stranger/enemy." This is Malidona Patrice Some's mission: to prepare himself and then come to the west to get acquainted with the "stranger" in order to investigate the white man's world. Malidona's mission, is predetermined by the ancestors. Individuals in the Dagara culture must comply with their mission, as explained by Malidona's grandfather in the following passage: "What is decreed is decreed. Our ancestors told us that the best way to know who the [white man] is, is to get closer to him. Iron cuts iron. But iron can only cut iron if it rubs itself against iron." This is Malidona's mission. He must get acquainted with the Western world in order to understand them. Then he must go back to his village and communicate his learnings to the community. Most of the elements and anecdotes described in this book are simply amazing and very insightful. But the fact that the Dagara culture associates life with a mission particularly caught my attention. This belief is the basic theme of the book. It made me wonder about my own beliefs and my own life mission. Another element which I found interesting is the one that relates, or perhaps emphasizes, to the philosophy of some African creation stories regarding nature and human beings. In the Dagara culture, plants and animals are placed as higher than humans. Most of the creation stories also make reference to this belief since most of the time plants and animals were created before man. Plants and animals are considered so important that Malidona's grandfather kept stressing that one must go to the "school" of plants and animals in order to learn and survive in life.
With this text, the reader becomes aware of how the autochthonous nature of Diné spirituality influences every aspect of their belief system. We see this involvement with nature through several different analytical lenses including sacred narratives, ceremonies and rituals, religious specialists and power. Through sacred narrative ad ceremony and ritual in the novel, we see connection with place and nature during the K-Tag ceremony in the poem entitled “K-Tag Ceremony”. Ceremonies and rituals with ties to nature are also seen in the chapter entitled “Tune Up”. In “Tune Up” we also see the important role of the Medicine Men in Native American spirituality which would be classified under the analytical lens of religious specialists as well as power. Finally, we see the connection with the analytical lens of integration through nature in the poem “The Canyon was Serene”.
...ans of communicating the history of culture. They each raised questions in fairly broad theoretical framework-chapters beginning with a through and expansive introduction where the author poses various ways of tackling the given concepts. Karin Barber’s The Anthropology Of Texts, Persons And Publics and Stephen Belcher’s African Myths Of Origin each explains in great detail the significance of myths and oral texts as a way of weaving society and its people together, which helps provide the reader with a new perspective on the subject of African anthropology. Furthermore, by elaborating on the significance of myths and folktales of various African cultures, readers alike are able to gain a better understanding of the deep-rooted history.
For this essay I have chosen to discuss the Asabano of Papua New Guinea and how they have dealt with death before and after accepting Christianity. I will be addressing this topic in such a way that is true to the Asabano traditions and beliefs. As their practices with regards to how they had approached their deceased are very closely related to their beliefs in ancestral powers, magic, and witchcraft, and had an immense impact on their lives.
Even a student that has been educated for only four weeks in anthropology can admit that their viewpoint has changed since acquiring their knowledge. Studying a foreign way of life and unfamiliar customs sheds light on the impact that one’s own culture has on their thoughts. Anthropology is valuable because has the ability to remove the shock and misunderstanding that occurs when examining an alien worldview. The value of cultural relativism, the principle that one culture should not be judged by the standard of another culture, is illustrated in the comparison of Peace Corp volunteer Floyd Sandford’s African Odyssey and anthropologist Richard Lee’s Dobe Ju/’hoansi. A trained anthropologist speaks primarily in the voices of the people and quantitative data, while a relatively untrained Peace Corp worker enters a new culture and colors his account with his own emotional reactions and voice.
Of Water and the Spirit is more than simply an account of Malidoma's life and initiation, it is a detailed description of the worldview of a Dagara man, who is forcibly subjected to traditional Western thought for fifteen years and then returns to his home physically, at first, but spiritually only once he goes through initiation, or what the Dagara call the Baar. Malidoma's recount of his story, being very similar to the storytelling of an African Griot, uses amazing imagery that allows the listener to sincerely experience his thoughts and actions and the things he sees, hears, and feels throughout his early life up to now.
South-west of Lake Tanganyika is an area home to the Tabwa people. Composing of about six major clans, the Tabwa population reached around 200,000 people. Tabwa societies survive off the land from farming and fishing. Small villages led by chiefs comprised the political structure of Tabwa life. There were no major rulers or states. Living at a key crossroad for people, goods, and philosophies, the Tabwa people were greatly swayed by different types of people, the slave trade, and the ivory trade. Religion has always been fundamental to many people’s lives. Both religion and divination played a role in Tabwa life. Intuitive in nature, these people seek enlightenment. Tabwa constantly wonder why things happen and how they happen. Divination is imperative in finding solutions and help, fixing problems, and bettering situations for the future. Masks are sporadic in Tabwa culture, but they are essential to many religious activities and performances. Tabwa beaded masks’ main purpose was to seek guidance from spirits through divination possession rituals.
familiar with their own culture that they do not easily recognize their culture’s uniqueness. People may face some opposition when observing how different a culture’s practices are from their own. Horace Miner’s article “Body Rituals among the Nacirema”, provides insight of how odd another culture may seem when people view it from their own perspective.
Bosch, David J. “Reflections on Biblical Models of Mission.” In Landmark Essay in Mission and World Christianity. Edited by Robert L. Gallagher and Paul Hertig, 3-16. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2009.
The word ‘shamanism’ has been thrown around a great deal these days, and attached to a variety of behaviors, sometimes with only a vague understanding of its meaning. Most people who study the existence of shamans have very little knowledge of what actual tribal shamans practiced in any given culture. A researcher or interested seeker, looking through all the widely varied literature, will notice both similarities and differences between anthropological descriptions of long-ago tribal shamans and similar iconography of Mesoamerica. Similarities could mean that there were rituals of a similar magnitude but it does not prove that they are all a part of a giant web that stretches across the world. Confusion on the topic and its many interpretations cloud its origin and force a compromising stance on the very word ‘shamanism’.
When Malidoma was young he spent huge amounts of time with his grandfather. The thing that Malidoma really emphasized about their relationship, was that his grandfather always talked to him as if he were an adult. No one else treated Malidoma as if he were an adult; their bond was special. Malidoma was referred to as a brother by his grandfather. This bond of brotherhood between the elderly and child is stronger than death. In a way, it is strengthened by death. The French colonial rule was able to completely disconnect Malidoma from his family and culture. They alienated him so much, that after fifteen years away from his village, he couldn't reconnect with his people without undergoing the extensive initiation ceremony. The bond with his gra ndfather was unscathed by life with the Jesuit priests.
In African context, Nigeria presents the largest concentration of everything that is traditionally African from tourism, traditions, customs and belief respectively. To elucidate this point, Ghanaian American writer Kwasi Sarkodie-Mensah points out:
There is no more significant feature of culture than of their Religion, and or faith for the future. The chapter is entitled "A Drought in Bima: People and Their Gods." Here in chapter 7 there is presenyef a problem. In Bima the region is divided primarily into to groups; the “Dou Donggo” tribe and the “Bimanese” tribe. Now both of these groups depended on rain fall to tend for their crops or they could starve. Unfortunately the time of the season where they get the most rain passes, still no rain. This continues and continues and both groups get worried. The Dou Donggo tribe believed that when things went wrong in life it was due to mischievous spirits and that the only way to please them and stop there problems they needed to make sacrifices to them with items of value to the tribe such as tobacco and rice. The Bimanese believed in Muslim teachings so they thought that the best plan of action was to take the time to fast and pray for better times. What I was able to gain from this event was the ways in which groups confront and deal with some of the most critical of problems they face. The chapter goes on to tell of how a belief in a higher power allows people to combat anxieties and deal with
Therefore, in an effort to clarify the vast differences in traditional religions between the San people and the Bantu speaking farmers. I will briefly explore the different religious beliefs of each group, eventually comparing the two in an effort to clarify why it is not correct to refer to one indigenous African religion.
To begin, it must be clear that religions within Africa extend beyond the reach of modern religions and traditions, and while individuals are being converted every day, there are still traces within the lives of African people that are rooted in the pre-modern religions of the area. Many of these religions are marked by single deities having rule over lesser deities, sacrifices, and prayer. While these are not the only qualities, they are prevalent within many different religions among the indigenous people from before modern religion made its way into the area. While these practices have not died out, they are becoming less of a factor in everyday life, but there are bits and pieces dispersed throughout life from these religions. They often accompany modern religious practices, as they are rooted within the culture, and may be viewed as supplemental to the religion rather than having a distinct separations (“Traditional Religions”). The religions also take root in the practice of oral tradition, being passed down through generations in the native language, as well as being overall centered around the communities within which they are prevalent within....