African Indigenous Religions And Disease Causation

African Indigenous Religions and Disease Causation Studies of Religion in Africa Supplements to the Journal of Religion in Africa Edited by Paul Gifford School of Oriental and African Studies, London Deputy Editor Ingrid Lawrie College of the Resurrection, Mirfield VOLUME 28 African Indigenous Religions and Disease Causation From Spiritual Beings to Living Humans by David Westerlund BRILL LEIDEN • BOSTON 2006 This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data LC Control Number: 2006047581 Mériot, Sylvie-Anne. [Cuisinier nostalgique. English] Nostalgic cooks : another French paradox / edited by Sylvie-Anne Mériot ; translated by Trevor Cox and Chanelle Paul ; pref. by André Grelon. p. cm. — (International studies in sociology and social anthropology, ISSN 0074-8684 ; v. 97) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 90-04-14346-7 paperback : alk. paper 1. Restaurant management— France—History. I. Title. II. Series. TX945.M49613 2006 ISSN 0169-9814 ISBN-13: 978 90 04 14433 0 ISBN-10: 90 04 14433 1 © Copyright 2006 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill Academic Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Brill provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands CONTENTS Preface .......................................................................................... vii Introduction .................................................................................. 1 Chapter One Ethnographic Background .............................. 25 Chapter Two Heavenly Beings among the San .................. 41 Chapter Three God in Maasai Thought ................................ 65 Chapter Four Sukuma Spirits of Ancestors .......................... 85 Chapter Five Kongo Spirits or Nkisi .................................... 103 Chapter Six Yoruba Divinities ............................................ 121 Chapter Seven Living Humans among the San and Maasai .................................................... 149 Chapter Eight Witchery among the Sukuma, Kongo and Yoruba .................................................... 165 Chapter Nine Factors of Continuity and Change .............. 189 Appendix Notes on Natural Causation of Disease ...... 209 References .................................................................................... 217 Index .............................................................................................. 235 PREFACE This is the end of a long research journey. It started in the 1980s during my five years as a research fellow in a project, ‘African folk models and their application’, at the Department of Cultura