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Accordingly, the family adviser is selected both for his intelligence and for the seriousness of his attitude. The family adviser in addition must be fully knowledgeable about the meaning of the multiplicity of symbols used by the consultant in responding to his questions. For, although the adviser poses his questions orally, the consultant responds by indicating objects, directions, body parts, and the like (see below). This technique allows for private discussion in public places, but it also requires that an adviser be adept at interpreting the symbols given, especially considering the usual fast cadence of the consultation. |
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Because the consultation is often very tense, particularly when serious problems are being discussed, one sees occasional flareups between the consultant and the adviser. In one consultation, the adviser noted, "My friend, you lie" (6:22). In another consultation, the adviser exclaimed, "No, my friend, you are not a real consultant." The consultant responded, ''This is not true. It is you who do not know how to do it. You drank. You should not think that I do not know how to conduct a consultation. The person you are advising did not know what to tell you before we began. If you think I lie, go ask him and return" (4:80). In this way, both the consultants and the advisers, while continually reaffirming the validity of the consultation process, acknowledge that inaccuracies occur. |
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The consultation process takes the form of a verbal and visual discourse carried out between two persons considered to have great acumen, the consultant and the family adviser. The process is an ordered give and take between them; the adviser verbally sets out a variety of possibilities that the consultant will accept or reject. |
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The structure of the consultation is relatively standard. The family adviser who has come to consult (most consultations take place at the house of the consultant) will ask the consultant's permission to sit down. He sits down across from the consultant and the consultation stone is placed between them. At this time the family adviser tosses two cowries on the ground. These serve both as payment and as a means of determining whether the day is propitious for the consultation. This is indicated by the cowries' falling one with its face up, the other with its face down. Several tries may be necessary, but if they continually fail to turn up in this way, then the consultation will be postponed. |
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If the day is propitious, the consultant takes hold of his or her consultation club, a carved branch about two and a half feet long with a thin shaft and a large bulbous knob at one end. The consultant holds the shaft in his right hand while the adviser clutches the knob in his right hand, helping to support it in the course of its movement during the fast-paced consultation process (see figure). Thus the reactions of the adviser to the club's movement, indicating particular signs during the course of consultation, may be noticed by a skillful consultant, although that possibility was denied by consultants with whom I discussed the process. They insisted that the process was carried out independently of both |
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