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in this volume), diviners are not emphatically distinguished from others, but for the most part diviners are considered unique (Peek 1985) and sometimes are greatly feared (Hammond-Tooke 1975:32). Often future diviners are determined at birth by auspicious signs (interpreted by divination), as for Zulu women (Ngubane 1977: 97), or by adolescent behavior, as among the Batammaliba (see Blier's essay above). Elsewhere, individuals are chosen by ancestors or spiritual powers, or they choose themselves to become diviners during adulthood, signaled again by specific omens or behavioral characteristics. Just as the manner by which one comes to begin divining differs widely, so do practices of initiation, training, testing, and recognition by the group (as discussed above in section II). We might simply recall at this point that whether or not there is a formal initiation and training period, there is usually a final examination (often public), after which the individual is officially recognized by the community as a diviner (see Abimbola 1977 and Turner 1967). |
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Certainly during divination diviners are acknowledged as special persons, but sometimes they are permanently marked off from others. For example, diviners may be distinguished by their clothing or regalia (Gebauer 1964:149, Vansina 1971). One of the most dramatic markers of diviners, especially in southern Africa, is cross-gender dressing, with women dressing as men because they have been possessed by male spirits (who are the actual divinatory agents).
6 Cross-gender identification is established in various ways throughout the continent. Middleton describes Lugbara diviners: |
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The men are said occasionally to be impotent or homosexual, and those that are not, the elders and rainmakers, act when under the observance of sexual taboos which make them temporarily "like women" (okule). The women are either barren, or pre-pubertal, or post-menopausal, or temporarily not having intercourse with their husbands or other men; they are regarded as "like men" (agule). Among the Lugbara this permanent or temporary asexuality is an essential characteristic of their being able to act as a medium between the social and the Spirit spheres. It is a symbolic attribute, and has nothing to do with their other, normal, social roles. (1969:224). |
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While these practices may be rejections of normal sexuality in order to attain a sexless state (see Bjerke 1981:169), another interpretation seems more appropriate. Gender differences are accentuated by the highly visible reversals of dress and behavior; but as this is only temporary, the actual goal seems to be the symbolic synthesis of both sexes' features in one individual.7 It is significant that diviners' spiritual aid is often by means of pairs of male and female spirits, as in Rjonga (Thonga) divination (Morris 1976:245; see also Tucker 1940:178, Kuukure 1985: 71, and Glaze 1981:67). Gola diviners are aided by opposite-sexed spirit helpers (d'Azevedo 1975:294), and among the Fipa, male diviners are referred to as "wives of the territorial spirits" (Willis 1968:142). Whyte's discussion (above) of Nyole diviners reflects similar imagery. Therefore, the common objective is a combination of male and female characteristics and we may better speak of diviners as seeking an androgynous state. Whatever our label for the resultant identity of |
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