Ambiguous interventions: On the Professionalization of Divination Practices in Urban Mali

Ambiguous interventions: On the Professionalization of Divination Practices in Urban Mali Dorothea E. Schulz ApracticesofferingspervasiveisbyfeaturetheuÂanitesprominenceofMali'sfrom,ofcurrentepisodesitseems,print,illustratingallaudiowalkstheandofusevisuallife.ofesotericInmediathe offeringsistheprominenceofepisodesillustratingtheuseofesoteric practicesbyuÂanitesfrom,itseems,allwalksoflife.Inthe entertainmentsectionsofmostdailynewspapers,storiesaboundthatdeplorethe credulityofclientswho,intheiryearningforaquickandeasyfixtotheir monetaryoramorousmisfortunes,fallpreytocharlatanswhodressthemselves upasexpertsofesotericknowledge.Apopularprogramonnationaltelevision, gearedtotherepresentationof'traditional5Malianculture,hasrecentlysetout toportrayindividualsrenownedfortheirmasteryofesotericknowledge.The greatsuccessofthese'documentaries,'reflectedinthegreatnumberofviewers whocalledinandpressedforthere-screeningoftheseproductions,tellsa remarkablestoryofmanyviewers'acutesenseofthesignificanceoftheoccultto theirdailyexperience. Onthevariouslocalradiostationswhichhavebeenmushroominginurban areasoverthepastfifteenyears,entireprogramsaredevotedtotherecountingof storiesthat,liketheradiotrottoirstoriessopopularthroughoutcontemporary Africa,makeroom-invariousandsometimesparadoxicalways-forthe presenceofaninvisibleworldofpowerinpeople'sdailylives.Themedia coverage,alongwitharecently-implementedgovernmentalpolicydirectedat administeringandcontaining'occultservices'(suchasthecreationofanew sectionofthesecurityforcesdesignedtodealwithinstancesof'charlatanerie'), hintsattwodevelopments.First,theadministrativeeffortssuggestthatinurban Mali,occultpracticesthemselves,andnotonlytheirmediacoverage,have multiplied.Secondly,theparticularformsofmediacoverageindicatethatthe multiplicationofindependentprintandaudiochannelssincetheearly1990shas beenconducivetomorestandardizedpracticesinrepresentingesotericpractices. Inotherwords,evenifsomeofthemediapresentationsadoptaderisorytonein denouncingtheexcessesofoccultinterventions,theysimultaneouslyattestto, andassist,abroadrecognitionofvariousesotericservices,suchasdivinationand thefabricationof'cures'againstpersonalmisfortune,asaconstitutivepartofthe urbaneconomy. Tobesure,intricatetiesbetweentheesotericknowledgeofreligious specialistsandeconomicactivitieshavealonghistoryinMali,aswellas throughoutMuslimWestAfrica.Expertiseinmobilizingtheforcesoftheoccult hasconstitutednotonlyasourceofpower,butalsoasourceofincomeinMali. Muslimreligiousspecialistshavelongbeenassessedbytheircontemporaries primarilyaccordingtotheircapacitytocontrolsupernaturalpowersforthe MandeStudies7(2005)pp.49-67 50 Dorothea Schulz benefit of others, and to transmit that venality of practitioners of the Isla standing feature of Muslim social life particularly in towns whose histories lineages of Sufi leaders, religious spec derive exquisite prestige from the spec are said to hold and that, according to of mastering esoteric knowledge. The families in Nioro, for instance, stems return for the benedictions they besto 6; also see Last 1988: 195ff). Other karamògòw in contrast, who c contemporary urban topography of e genealogical privilege and high-pres San, where I conducted most of the re people have in mind the latter categ (sometimes condescendingly, sometim the domain and power/knowledge sys These 'ordinary' experts of esoter little scholarly attention. Scholars o more interested in religious leaders w documented and monitored by colo memory (but see Last 1988). I would argue that it is precisely th some of whom one may even describe attention. After all, it is they who, on 'means' to redress their social world, fee-for-service business. Their occult i through which, over recent decad expanded into a sector of the urba conditions in urban Mali have contrib of a general shortage of resources to of the term, Schulz 2004, ch.4, 6), specialists not only to make sense of universe, butto actively reshape their those who hold 'knowledge of the o increasingly turns into the principal Patently, none of this is unique to t of authors have shown for various Af taking place and come to characterize Africa. Rumors about the lethal pow control the powers of the occult revea a growing rift between the desires fo Ambiguous Interventions 5 1 realize them. These exploding economies of the o Comaroff 1999) can be related to the current era economies, under the effects of recent neo-liberal econ The purpose of this article is to start from these au close intertwining of economic degradation and of moral idiom, and to focus on some internal, 'proc esoteric interventions that, as I shall argue, facilitate t practices into a profession. I am primarily interes procedural logic of the process that leads to the ultim origins of an affliction. I will argue that the intricat diagnosis of the causes for misfortune and the concom 'cure' creates a range of options among which speciali with a particular diagnosis. And the nature of the dia related to and often instrumental to, the transformat intervention into a paid service. Before I proceed with this argument, I want to point t social and cultural setting in and around San that ren other urban areas. People in the area of San are un influences. Djenne, as a prestigious center of Isla influenced local perceptions and practices of Islam specialists whom I met stressed that they had spent e Djenne. Djenne constitutes not only the most importa but serves Muslim specialists as a symbolic reference expertise and credibility. A few families in San are ass order which, in spite of its long-standing presence in on local politics. Many people in the area converted to is, over the past forty years. To date, there remain i Islamic practice around San, and there are intricate co Islamic and Islamic esoteric practices which I consider power/knowledge (cf. Colleyn, supra). These intric explain the general lack of agreement over questions and effectiveness of experts of Islamic and non-Islam Divination and its Dynamic Location in the Religious Power/Knowledge Esoteric expertise, particularly knowledge geared tow causes of affliction and misfortune, forms part of a religious knowledge that bridges different...