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very definitely knew what was false. Through divinatory dialogue between the two, an attempt was made to resolve uncertainty in favor of a specific interpretation of reality. This process of communication and construction is one important theme in the analysis that follows. |
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The other theme concerns relations and processes that are less amenable to direct observation. We want to know not only how communication proceeds but also what or whom it concerns. Joseph and the god-king were establishing a truth about all of Egypt. In the mundane Nyole world the object of divination was almost always the suffering of an individual. This victim of affliction might be the client, but often the sufferer was not present. The client consulted on behalf of someone, as Pharaoh asked about Egypt, over which he had authority and for which he was responsible. From the Nyole point of view, a person who "goes to ask" about the misfortune of another does so because he is concerned, because the affliction of "his person" is his misfortune too. I shall suggest that, at the same time, such a consulter exerts a kind of interpretive domination, proposing a social and moral identity for the suffering individual. |
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Nyole Knowledge About Misfortune and Personhood |
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Nyole divined almost exclusively concerning the causes and appropriate remedy of misfortune. Like the Ndembu (Turner 1975:209), Nyole sought retrospective knowledge in divination. Confronted by problems such as sickness, barrenness, death of livestock, and school failure, Nyole responded pragmaticallywaiting to see if the trouble would pass, admonishing the child to study harder, or administering Western or "African" medicine to relieve symptoms. Such symptomatic treatment was sufficient unless troubles were prolonged, repetitive, or acutely dangerous. Then Nyole said, "there is a reason" (erio esonga) or "let us go to inquire" (hwende ohwebusa) or "let us take a divining fee'' (hung'ambe omuhemba), indicating the need to divine about the cause of the problem in order to supplement symptomatic with etiological treatment. |
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Although Nyole might say that they were going to divine to find out whether or not there was a "reason" behind some problem, divination in fact always established a supernatural cause for misfortune. Of the hundreds of divinations of which I have records, only two concluded that there was "no cause" for a misfortune, that it was "just sickness" or death from old age.
1 In effect, the decision to divine was a decision that a misfortune had a deeper meaning. |
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That deeper meaning was determined through a process in which many possible meanings were confronted. The diviner's hut was a place where an abundance of interpretations pressed themselves upon the uncertain client: from this extraordinary and confusing excess of significance, some usable knowledge had to be selected so that the consulter could leave with a satisfying interpretation. |
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Nyole attributed misfortune to persons (living or dead) or to spirits. These agents were usually related to the victim of misfortune; they had motives for causing suffering, and there was a moral element in the relationship between victim and |
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