Introduction: Divination research as a field of Mande studies

Introduction Divination research as a field of Mande studies^ Jan Jansen and Annette Schmidt The papers included in this special issue, 'Divination in the Mande World,' offer a representative cross-section of the modern geography of that world: from the Dogon country to Dakar, from the border areas of southern Mali to the heartland in the Manding plateau. Equally important is the axis of rural and urban, including Djenne, the oldest urban area of the Mande world, and Dakar, the modern city, home to members of the Mande diaspora out of the homelands. The papers cover a widely representative range of the divination practices and approaches that have been identified in the study of the topic in Africa: social interactions, apprenticeship, and causal interpretation, involving the reading of randomly generated signs. As is to be expected, the contributors to this volume present different approaches in their studies of divination.2 Several highlight the liminal status of divination practices, either as a trans-ethnic phenomenon (Colleyn) or as a theologically questionable practice (Mommersteeg), while others focus on practitioners (Schulz, Gemmeke, Marchand). Two illustrate 'traditional' techniques (Van Beek, Veirman). Two others provide an understanding of the systematics in these techniques: Graw describes figures in cowrie divination, while Jansen's paper transforms our understanding of the learning process in a variation of the 16-house system. A common feature to their approaches is that they accept the practice and credit its premises: that, in the belief of the diviners and their clients, a form of supra-human knowledge exists which can be (partially or occasionally) read by those qualified or inspired. The days in which diviners were presumed to be frauds have passed, although the notion survives in some terminology. The term 'charlatan(t)', imbued in western usage with negative connotations (in French or English), seems to be used as a neutral descriptor in some areas (see illustration). This approach to divination studies dates at least to Philip Peek's 1991 African Divination Systems , in which he argues that the practice should be seen as a search for 'a more holistic way of knowing' (Graw, infra); it attempts 'to assess and understand the specific qualities and sources of the interpretative processes characterizing divinatory procedure in a positive and unbiased way' (ibid.). This approach echoes the 'classical desire' of anthropologists to do 'emic' research, i.e, to study a group of people 'from within'. As Graw writes: 'The crucial aspect here is to realize that the divinatory enunciation is not just significant as a cultural document reflecting important social or symbolic structures of a particular culture, but because it is significant for the client in his or her individual concern. Although this aspect is evident, it remains crucial to Mande Studies 7 (2005) pp. 1-7 2 Jan Jansen and Annette Schmidt fully acknowledge this point in order to be able to grasp divinatory enunciation not only as a cultural institution concrete possibility of experience that realizes itself consultation.' For the Mande, Graw's contribution may be exemplary for the 'ernie' approach. Keeping his focus on the clients' perspective, he draws from phenomenological philosophical traditions in order to demonstrate that the clients (and experts) seek different forms of knowledge and understanding than those the researcher himself is often able to grasp. Moreover, this is a process: 'The fact that the relation between the intentional concern of the subject and the general representation of reality in the divinatory enunciation is dynamic rather than static, already indicates that part of the significance of the divinatory encounter lies in its relation to (the growth of) the subject's understanding of his or her personal situation' (Graw, infra). This idea - that clients look for different forms of knowledge than the researcher - is not only a useful theoretical insight for anyone who investigates divination. It also is a warning to reflect on the validity of the material collected in the field; do the data collected really represent what the researcher thinks they do...? Graw contrasts with approaches grounded more in the social-functional school. It is tempting to relate the omnipresence of divination in present-day Africa to the effects of the neo-liberal policies in the 1 980s...