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CONSULTING KU JLOPLE: SOME HISTORIES OF ORACLES IN WEST AFRICA
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Journal Article
CONSULTING KU JLOPLE: SOME HISTORIES OF ORACLES IN WEST AFRICA
2004
Overview
Historical comparison of oracles in west Africa, mainly during the nineteenth century, shows how divination practices may alter. In the cases explored here, reputation, range of users, economic growth, and political influence interacted as these oracles developed; some at sites with internal and overseas trade access became complex, large-scale operations. But by about 1900, colonialists felt threatened by their secular and their spiritual power and smashed them physically, though not spiritually. Contextualized comparison shows that the many people who were involved as oracle organizers and supplicants must have had different motivations and interests. Some methodological implications of the findings are considered. As in many powerful secular organizations, access to insider knowledge was blocked, but oracular reputation was important, and the oracles had competitors. Success derived partly from collecting intelligence, with simultaneous advertisement that emphasized the mysterious power of their operations. / La comparaison historique des oracles d'Afrique occidentale, en particulier au XIXème siècle, montre comment peuvent se modifier les pratiques divinatoires. Dans les cas analysés ici, la réputation, l'identité des utilisateurs, la croissance économique et l'influence politique ont agi sur le développement de ces oracles. Certains, situés dans des lieux ouverts sur le commerce intérieur et extérieur, sont devenus des entreprises complexes et à grande échelle. Toutefois vers 1900, les oracles, dont le pouvoir séculier et spirituel était perçu comme une menace par les puissances coloniales, ont été démantelés. Mais, si le colonisateur a eu raison d'eux physiquement, il n'a pas pu les détruire spirituellement. Une comparaison contextualisée montre que les nombreuses personnes intervenant dans l'organisation ou la consultation des oracles avaient certainement des motivations et des intérêts différents. Certaines implications méthodologiques de ces observations sont envisagées. Comme dans de nombreuses organisations séculières puissantes, les connaissances étaient tenues secrètes, mais la réputation des oracles était importante, et ils se trouvaient en concurrence. Leur succès tenait en partie à leur aptitude à recueillir des renseignements et à assurer dans le même temps leur réclame en faisant valoir leurs pouvoirs occultes.
Publisher
Blackwell Publishing Ltd,Blackwell Publishers,Blackwell Publishing,John Wiley & Sons, Inc
