Etiology and Divination among the Sisala of Northern Ghana

Mendonsa, Eugene L.

doi:10.2307/1581082

Cited by 4 publications

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“…Despite such tragedies, death sustained a Sisala cosmology in which a tangible energy called dolung , or “power,” permeated both the duniya , or “earthly realm,” and the fafa, or “ancestral realm” (Mendonsa :66). In the duniya the living performed acts of remembrance through piacular sacrifices to send dolung to the ancestors in the fafa (Mendonsa :39). Were kin ever to forget their ancestors and fail to send them dolung, these ancestors would fade into nothingness, “a fate worse than death” according to Sisala (Mendonsa :84).…”

Section: The Power Of the Ancestorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We therefore relate Grindal's fieldwork to archaeological practice, considering both ethnography and archaeology as excavations of the past. Throughout, we refer to the writings of Grindal's colleague and friend, Eugene Mendonsa (, , , ), a fellow ethnographer of Sisala culture. Our twin aims are to appreciate Grindal's holistic approach to ethnography and to champion its application to non‐ethnographic contexts as well—to bring our friend and colleague, Bruce, back from the dead, as it were, and into our lives once more following his passing in 2012.…”

Section: Introduction: the Odor Of Ethnographic Thingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Raising the Dead: Altered States, Anthropology, and the Heart of Sisala Experience

Hellweg

Englehardt

Miller

2015

Anthropology and Humanism

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In this article, we examine Bruce Grindal's 1983 essay, "Into the Heart of Sisala Experience: Witnessing Death Divination." We do so from the perspectives of two Africanist ethnographers and a Mesoamericanist archaeologist for the purpose of exploring current epistemological presuppositions about anthropological research. We argue that Grindal's holistic approach to ethnography stands as a model for anthropological methods across the subdisciplines. We take archaeology as a particular example. Although the humanistic empiricism Grindal espoused has fallen out of fashion among positivist archaeologists and certain cultural anthropologists, the enduring quality of Grindal's writing offers a path beyond the tensions between so-called "scientific" and "unscientific" approaches in anthropology. He considered the evidence he gathered inseparable from his negotiation of the lived contexts in which he worked. Grindal thus overcame the daunting challenge of describing the temporary return of a dead man to life in northern Ghana in the 1960s. Rather than try to prove or disprove what he saw, Grindal documented his host's remarks about the event, aiming to testify intersubjectively to their shared experience, beyond dichotomies of objectivity and subjectivity. Grindal's contribution to anthropology therefore lies in his unified view of anthropological methods at a time when anthropologists have drawn battle lines over choices between supposedly explanatory and interpretive viewpoints. His genius lay in recognizing the continuities between both perspectives, rooted in interpersonal communication. As a result, Grindal's work stands as a way forward for those eager to bs_bs_banner

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Section: The Power Of the Ancestorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introduction: the Odor Of Ethnographic Thingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Raising the Dead: Altered States, Anthropology, and the Heart of Sisala Experience

Hellweg

Englehardt

Miller

2015

Anthropology and Humanism

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“…For a detailed account of Sisala political and social development, see Eugene Mendonsa (1973) and my dissertation, "Sisala Wood Sculpture of Northemrn Ghana" (1976), an investigation into artistic specialization. Other Sisala carvers, such as Buyugo and Semani, have been greatly impressed by the saaruhien's achievements.…”

Section: Funerary Axe Decorated With a Human Head Crested By A Chamelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ntowie: Sisala Carver

Nunley¹

1979

African Arts

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JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies Center and Regents of the University of California are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to African Arts. Ntowie was the only specialist carver and self-proclaimed saaruhien (eldest or "first" carver),1 a title later recognized by his clansmen, of the Sisala subgroup of the Grusi-speaking peoples of the Voltaic basin (Greenberg 1966:8).2 He was born about 1910 in his father's village of Kong, and he died there in 1957. His Sisala mother was reared at Sekal, south of Sekai on the main road to Walembele. No one today from the artist's lineage is a carver; his kin are mostly full-time farmers. Kong, with its population of 610 and its agrarian economy, typifies the majority of Sisala villages.3 The Han viara ("the clan that avoids drinking from the red pot"), to which the settlement belongs, is one of the largest and most highly recognized clans of the district. Notables such as George Nanjo, the middle school headmaster of the Tumu Boarding School, who is also the strong divisional chief and head of the Han viara, and Ntowie himself have contributed to the group's sense of pride.Ntowie inspired other men, particularly some of his own clan, who wished to be full-time carvers rather than farmers or, more recently, educators, tailors, traders, and civil servants, but he did not succeed in organizing Sisala sculptors to further their cause. Although his life and work are vividly remembered by the Sisala, relatively few of them have followed his example, and no one has succeeded to the position of saaruhien or equaled his sculptural achievements. The concept of first carver, however, has contributed to the sense of pride in other carvers I have met, a self-consciousness that often marks the formative stages of cultural development.Ntowie's life brings attention to the problems faced by carvers in a society such as that of the Sisala, where artistic specialization is discouraged and where few carvings are required for religious practices. This study shows how the solving of these problems can, under the right circumstances, effect cultural change. Rather than describing cultural dynamics in terms of larger social forces, this article (based on my research in 2. SCHOOLBOY 31 cm. 3. MILITARY MAN. 32.5cm 4. PROFILE OF FIGURE 3. 5 MARKET WOMAN. 42cm

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“…Ancestral sacrifices are a normal part of the divinatory process (cf. Mendonsa, 1973Mendonsa, , 1975, that is, they result from perceived ancestral affliction which leads the client to consult a diviner to determine the exact cause and cure of the affliction. The cure is normally divined as being a sacrifice to the afflicting ancestor.…”

Section: Ancestor Worship or Ancestor Respect?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Elders, office-holders and ancestors among the Sisala of Northern Ghana

Mendonsa¹

1976

Africa

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IntroductionThere are two ways of approaching the data on African ancestor worship. They can be dealt with as a system of beliefs viz., as a body of thought, or they may be handled as a reflection of social relations. African ancestor worship has most commonly been dealt with in the latter fashion, e.g. Fortes (1959: 30) says:the ancestor cult is the transportation to the religious plane of the relationships of parents and children; and that is what I mean by describing it as the ritualisation of filial piety.

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Etiology and Divination among the Sisala of Northern Ghana

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Raising the Dead: Altered States, Anthropology, and the Heart of Sisala Experience

Raising the Dead: Altered States, Anthropology, and the Heart of Sisala Experience

Ntowie: Sisala Carver

Elders, office-holders and ancestors among the Sisala of Northern Ghana

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