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Diviners as Alienists and Annunciators among the Batammaliba of Togo |
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At the center of the health care system of the Batammaliba (Tamberma, Somba) of northern Togo and Benin stands the diviner-consultant, upon, a figure who connects the individual, the family, and the community in providing answers to medical and social problems that arise. Such individuals are called on both to delimit the causes of physiological, psychological, and social problems and to indicate the means of resolution. Upon, from the root pon, "to give," means literally "the person who gives." The advice that these consultants give, called tapananti ("the words of the upon"), is the glue that holds the Batammaliba health care system together. These consultants provide the necessary formulas, principles, insights, and approaches both for understanding and for resolving problems. |
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The Batammaliba, the focus of this study, are a Gur-speaking people living in the Atacora mountains, which span the nations of Togo and Benin. My research among the Batammaliba centered on the social dimensions of their medical care and how residents view, define, categorize, and treat health-related crises. Diviner-consultants, it became clear to me in the course of this research, serve as important "pastoral guides" (according to Max Weber's definition), redefining, reexplaining, and reinterpreting the central cultural dimensions of their communities. Accordingly these consultants must be understood not only as spiritual guides for troubled individuals but also as interpreters and annunciators of the community's main cultural values. |
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Throughout the course of my research I resided with an elderly consultant, Yapita Tapoke. In my observations of Tapoke and other consultants, one of the first questions to emerge concerned the community's view of consultants. It soon became clear that such persons, while being at the heart of the community and having a central role in its major workings, were at the same time viewed as different. Such persons presented themselves and were perceived by others as |
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