TITLE:
I Cannot Treat Stupidity: The Function of Divination in Planning and Managing Life Crisis within the Dagbong Traditional Society in Northern Ghana
AUTHORS:
Salifu Abukari, Habibu Issah, Yussif Hamdan Adam
KEYWORDS:
Divination, Soothsaying, Spiritual Illnesses, Yal’kura, Witchcraft, Nantoo
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.10 No.1,
January
27,
2022
ABSTRACT: Diviners
play key roles in deciding individuals’ decision-making processes among the indigenous
peoples of Africa and in many other parts of the world. One key decision that people
make has to do with the pursuance of good health. The purpose of this study was
to explore the common types of diviner practices undertaken by the Dagomba, identify
disease causative agent among Dagomba, and explore the rationale behind the practice
of divination. The goal of this paper was to explore the function of divination
in planning and resolving life crises within traditional Dagbon communities in Ghana.
The investigation was guided by Rational Choice theory. In all, a total of 73 participants
were sampled using snowball and purposive sampling techniques for both the in-depth
interviews (33) and focus group discussions (40). The in-depth interviews included
25 diviners chosen from 5 communities in Yendi Municipality and its surrounding
communities including 8 health workers, while 40 community members selected from
the 5 communities (8 members per community)—both male and female—participated in
the focus group discussions. Structured observation was also employed to gather
additional information to supplement the data collected through other methods. Responses
were captured using tape recorder (field notes were also taken) and afterwards transcribed
and coded. Analysis was performed using thematic content analysis. The study discovered
various types of diviner practices among Dagomba. It also found that most people
use divination as diagnostic tool to determine the cause of ailments and diviners
play important role in determining the cause and management of illnesses in the
study communities. It was further established that most patients combined both divination
and allopathic medicine in seeking answers to their health problems. This is due
to their conviction that many ailments have both spiritual and physical elements
that must be attended to concurrently. It was further discovered that certain disorders
and illnesses necessarily require diviner consultation in order to decide the best
course(s) of action to cure or prevent it from getting exacerbated. However, some
of the diviners indicated their inability to treat all maladies, stating for example
that they could not treat ignorance and stupidity. Soothsaying, Afa/Mallam, Jinwariba, Gbanigba consultations among others, are among the common diviner services regularly patronized by
traditional Dagbon communities, according to the study. Going by these world views,
the indigenous Dagomba person sees the practice of divination as a vehicle they
can use to confront life crises, hence our study recommends that divination be merged
with allopathic medical care methods so as to provide holistic health care services
to all who may need it.