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PART THREE
CULTURAL SYSTEMS WITHIN DIVINATION SYSTEMS |
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Divination is not only a basic pattern in understanding the Lulua way of life, but it is also the most important institution in Lulua society.
David A. McLean and Ted J. Solomon, "Divination among the Bena Lulua" |
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This section emphasizes divination's centrality in articulating culture and providing sufficient knowledge for orderly, meaningful human existence. Contrary to functionalist arguments that divination is merely supportive of kinship and political structures, closer examination reveals that these institutions depend on divination. While it intersects with religion, a divination system involves far more than religious belief. Divination is essential in providing a repository of cultural values as well as facilitating adjustments to a changing world. |
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Perhaps only for Ifa divination of the Yoruba is this fundamental role of divination in the maintenance of a society understood. That is a result of the work of Bascom (1969), Abimbola (1976, 1977), McClelland (1982), and others. Even Evans-Pritchard (1968) and Turner (1975) do not convey this perspective. The following chapters demonstrate the absolute dependency of cultures on divination in terms of health care (the Batammaliba of Togo), social authority (the Lobi of Burkina Faso), the life-sustaining hunt (the Pagabeti of Zaire), and social relations (the Yaka of Zaire). But most dramatic is the situation of the Lobi, whose sole source of social authority, the thila ("spirits"), are voiceless and can communicate only through divination. Similarly, Djimini Senufo diviners also "give voice" to the spirits, who have no mouths (Suthers 1987). |
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Just as divination materials reveal a "resume of [the] whole social order" (Junod 1927:571), so the diviner displays the behavorial ideals of the culture. With their reports of the selection, training, and practice of those unique Batammaliba and Yaka individuals with exceptional intelligence and sensory abilities who become diviners, Blier and Devisch complement the material in section II. Blier empha- |
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