Voices of Affliction

Aspects of Traditional Healing Practices and their Impact on Akan Families in Ghana

Author: Cecilia Sem Obeng.

Series: TIAS Topics in Interdisciplinary African Studies Volume 1

2004
4 pp. Roman, 87 pp.
1 table, glossary, index
Text language(s): English
Format: 160 x 240 mm
170 g
Paperback
€ 29.80

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The present study is concerned with traditional healing practices and the concept of health among the Akan of Akyem in Ghana. It details the different types and practices of healers against the historical and socio-cultural background of the Akan. In contrast to the view that traditional societies like the Akan explain and treat illnesses exclusively on a spiritual level, Cecilia Sem Obeng shows that the Akan indeed have a bipartite concept of illness, caused by either physical or spiritual circumstances.

Drawing on three extensive case studies and numerous interviews with patients, their families and the healers, the author explains the process of treatment of so-called spiritually caused illnesses. Another three case studies circumscribe the distinctly separated illnesses caused by physical reasons. Both kinds are then considered in the context of the Akan’s view on health and disease.

The study is especially valuable because the author herself is an Akan. She grew up in the village of Asuom-Abompe in Ghana. During this time she participated in treatment processes and got well acquainted with several healers. She later trained in Akan traditional oral literature in Legon and studied folklore theory and practice at Indiana University/USA, both of which now enable her to weigh and analyse the narratives of the local inhabitants with empathy and scientific soundness.

Under these links you will find studies of traditional healing practices and ritual beliefs in Africa and Asia, as well as descriptions of further Ghanaian languages and cultures:

Accompanying material:

• Alltägliche Zauberei (ISBN 978-3-89645-310-5)
• Dealing with Disorder (ISBN 978-3-89645-082-1)
• Ein Heilungsritual der Dama, Südwestafrika/Namibia (ISBN 978-3-89645-351-8)
• Frauen und Feen (ISBN 978-3-89645-157-6)
• Hexenjagd und Aufklärung in Ghana (ISBN 978-3-89645-909-1)
• Khoisan Medicine in History and Practice (ISBN 978-3-89645-148-4)
• Maasai Diviners and Christianity (ISBN 978-3-89645-761-5)
• Medicine Experts of the |Xam San (ISBN 978-3-89645-147-7)
• Religion, Myth and Magic in Tangale (ISBN 978-3-927620-46-9)
• Studies in Ghanaian Languages and Linguistics (ISBN 978-3-89645-366-2)

Cross-reference:

• “Once a child leaves the womb, the community has to become the womb.” (ISBN 978-3-89645-852-0)
• A Tima-English Dictionary (ISBN 978-3-89645-901-5)
• Conversational Strategies in Akan (ISBN 978-3-89645-262-7)
• Die Konstruktion von Ethnizität (ISBN 978-3-89645-207-8)
• Kinder krebskranker Eltern (ISBN 978-3-89645-223-8)
• Krebskranke Eltern unterstützen (ISBN 978-3-89645-229-0)
• Perspektiven afrikanistischer Forschung / Perspectives de recherches africanistes (ISBN 978-3-927620-82-7)
• Religion und Heilkunst der Toba-Batak auf Sumatra (ISBN 978-3-89645-445-4)
• Sie kamen als Forscher und Ärzte ... (ISBN 978-3-89645-228-3)
• Spaces in Movement (ISBN 978-3-89645-905-3)
• Swahili Plants (ISBN 978-3-927620-89-6)
• The Mukogodo Maasai (ISBN 978-3-927620-86-5)
• Topics in West African Discourse-Pragmatics (ISBN 978-3-89645-856-8)
• Verwandtschaft und Mittelklasse in Ghana (ISBN 978-3-89645-844-5)

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