Divination in Afro-Caribbean Religions

Religions, 2018

The peripheral role of divination in religious studies reflects centuries of misrepresentation and depreciation in the textual record. This long history dates back to the travel literature of early modern times, particularly in West Africa, where two stereotypical themes took form: divination as mumbo jumbo, and the diviners as charlatans who shamelessly deceive their credulous clients. These two stereotypical themes persisted through the anthropological discourse about African divination until the 1970s. To undo this long history of misrepresentation and depreciation, a change of analytical focus from reified differences to similar engagement with broad ideas and big questions is in order. By considering a particular case study—basket divination in northwest Zambia—through the theoretical lens of worldviews and ways of life, it becomes possible to take divination seriously and grant it a more central place in religious studies. Four broad, inclusive ideas or big questions emerge from the ethnography of basket divination in northwest Zambia: ontology, epistemology, praxeology, and the place of suffering in human existence.

2023

This work is a philosophical exploration of divination as a theory in African epistemology. The motivation behind this is that apart from the derogatory remarks about divination as a theory of knowledge and justification, African epistemology seems to be an underexplored aspect of African philosophy. Again, until the dynamics in accessing knowledge within the African space is explored and connected, we may be jeopardizing objectivity and certainty in our knowledge claims and indeed the scope and the richness of what we can know. To this end, the work argues that African epistemology is a holistic approach to the issue of knowledge and for this to be achieved, both the physical and quasi-physical realities that make up African ontology must coalesce, be properly understood, and connected. Thus, the paper argues that divination as an African theory of knowledge is an attempt to give a comprehensive and holistic insight into what it means to know and how knowledge is achieved in the African space. To go about this, the work subscribes to the analytic and critical methods of philosophical analysis as useful tools.

Based on fieldwork in Abidjan, Côte d' Ivoire, undertaken in 1997 and 2009, as well as residence in the country in periods that spanned two decades, this study of contemporary urban divination in West Africa shows that it thrives even in the ethnically heterogeneous and religiously plural city. In stark contrast to the stereotypical view that African traditions are unable to offer a viable challenge to the influx of 'world' religions and their attendant values of modernity, divination demonstrates their vitality. The practices of divination rest on basic premises so widely shared as to constitute an overarching epistemology, at once trans-ethnic and authentically West African. By recasting contemporary problems into the familiar idioms of the 'traditional' worldview, divination enables practitioners to gain leverage over real and pressing concerns, affirming personal agency. It underscores a communal identity, not dependent on territorial or ethnic affiliation or precarious and contested definitions of citizenship. professional consulting rooms in the style of a clinic, with waiting rooms filled with urban clients even in the earliest morning hours; most are less visible, practicing in their private rooms in recessed courtyards filled with hanging laundry, cooking pots, young children at play and other signs of bustling life. Clients come with all manner of problems, from unrelenting and unexplained medical problems to unemployment or unhappy love affairs, confident that divination can identify the hidden source of their troubles and prescribe the means to alleviate their suffering. Moreover, in the city multiple forms of divination compete for attention. Hand-painted road-signs advertise clairvoyants and 'consultants' who use palmistry, numerology, astrology, and tarot along with 'traditional medicine,' a reference to the herbal remedies that diviners often prescribe.

Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, 1991

2010

This article gives a critical analysis of divination as practiced among the Swahili of Kenya coast. Radical changes in lifestyles were not associated with initial Islamization, but in latter days, Swahili contextualized Islam to recognize some of their cultural practices alongside Orthodox Islam. The belief and practice of divination is among such cultural practices that continue up to now. It is a practice used by some to control their social and physical environment and determine, in some cases, knowledge about their future lives. Through manipulation, explanation and prediction, divination is employed to attain this important human goal. However, Orthodox Islam condemns the belief and practice of divination. Data for this study was gathered from Swahili Muslims of Mombasa District Kenya to investigate the persistence of this belief and practice of divination. It will also explain the reasons responsible for the belief in and practice of divination among the Swahili Muslims.

Africa, 1991

A combination of museum research and fieldwork in Angola enables De Areia to present both an analysis of the contents of the divinatory baskets used by Cokwe diviners, and some case studies which illustrate how the carved tuphele pieces and their associated meanings are used in actual divination.

2006

This article argues that anthropological approaches to African divination are characterized by a certain epistemology, which creates specific problems with regard to vernacular truth-claims. Using ethnographic material from the Chagga-speaking people of Kilimanjaro, the article traces the multiple overlapping ramifications that interrelate vernacular concepts, physical objects, and local subjectivities. By thus avoiding reductionist arguments, the article endeavours to demonstrate that careful attention to these complex lateral relationships reveals how local diviners are able ‘to see’, or ‘be shown’, the ‘truth’ pertaining to their clients.

International Journal of …, 2010

This article gives a critical analysis of divination as practiced among the Swahili of Kenya coast. Radical changes in lifestyles were not associated with initial Islamization, but in latter days, Swahili contextualized Islam to recognize some of their cultural practices alongside Orthodox Islam. The belief and practice of divination is among such cultural practices that continue up to now. It is a practice used by some to control their social and physical environment and determine, in some cases, knowledge about their future lives. Through manipulation, explanation and prediction, divination is employed to attain this important human goal. However, Orthodox Islam condemns the belief and practice of divination. Data for this study was gathered from Swahili Muslims of Mombasa District Kenya to investigate the persistence of this belief and practice of divination. It will also explain the reasons responsible for the belief in and practice of divination among the Swahili Muslims.