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an eye on things, hoping that the problem will clear up. In serious cases the consultation is often followed by a meeting at which the various family advisers who have consulted compare the results of their consultations. |
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The Diviner-Consultant as Alienist and Annunciator |
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The diviner-consultant is at the center of the Batammaliba health care system. He or she is the medical gatekeeper, designating the directions that must be traveled in one's search for treatment. As Tchanfa Atchana observed, "without the consultation you cannot know what you suffering from" (8:228). The position of these consultants as gatekeepers is clearly reinforced by their identity as outsiders, as people who are decidedly different from others in the community. Their childhood illnesses, their unusual behavior, their recklessness, their great intelligence, their curiosity, and their assumed extra sight all serve to separate them from the society of which they are observers. Furthermore, it is clear that these "alienist" characteristics are actively promoted by the Batammaliba through the means of selection, training, modes of examination, and later patterns of life. This emphasis on the consultants' identity as outsiders is also conveyed through the metaphor of the journey that they take both within and outside themselves in the course of their training and later consultation roles. |
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It is in part by virtue of their distinct position as outsiders or alienists that these persons are able both to observe the community and to serve as its annunciators. It is through the balancing of these two dimensions that their roles as consultants are made possible. Furthermore, it is frequently said that once one has become a consultant one must continually consult (i.e., serve as an annunciator) or else the overtly bizarre behavior (the alienist identity) will become too dominant. Similarly, if the consultant is viewed through his or her personal actions to be too much the outsider (too much the alien), this is seen as proof that it is not the deity of consultation but some other deity or power that is troubling the person. The consultant thus must continually balance his or her identities as societal alienist and annunciator. As both insiders and outsiders, consultants have greater freedom and viability in giving advice on problems in the community, but they also must walk a fine and difficult line in maintaining two conflicting identities. As both alienist and annunciator, the consultant stands at once at the center and the periphery of the societythe outsider who is the ultimate insider. |
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1. Parenthetical notations refer to my field research journals. The first number indicates the month, from volume 1 (December 1976 and January 1977) to volume 13 (January 1978); the second indicates the page within that particular journal. |
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