Of Life and Health: The Language of Art and Religion in an African Medical System

Alexis Bekyane Tengan

Published by Berghahn Books 2018

Of Life and Health

The Language of Art and Religion in an African Medical System

Alexis Bekyane Tengan

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781789201024

Overview
Contents

About this book

An anthropological study of the health system of the Dagara people of northern Ghana and southern Burkina Faso, Of Life and Health develops a cultural and epistemological lexicon of Dagara life by examining its religious, ritual, and artistic expressions. Consisting of ethnographic descriptions and analyses of six Dagara cultic institutions, each of which deals with different aspects of sustaining and transmitting life, the volume gives a holistic account of the Dagara knowledge system.

Author / Editor information

Alexis Bekyane Tengan is an independent scholar in social and cultural anthropology resident in Belgium. He has taught for many years both in Belgium and in his native Ghana, and he now curates a private museum of sacred art and objects with studios in both countries. His publications include the Mythical Narratives in Ritual: Dagara Black Bagr (2006) and Art of Mythical Composition and Narration: Dagara White Bagr (2012).

Reviews

“This is an extremely interesting and very unusual book. It is an anthropological study of Dagara cosmology written from within…The importance of Of Life and Health is unquestionable. It will be of great interest for Africanist scholars and medical anthropologists, and I am sure it will serve as an extremely important documentation of Dagara knowledge, not least for the Dagara people themselves.” • JRAI

“The work is both unique and compelling since it is written by someone who is deeply rooted from birth in the Dagara culture rather than a researcher in transit, someone who is keen and able to present to an international scholarly audience the truth about his own epistemic heritage… a very interesting book. Even a hurried reading provides access to uniquely revealing information and perspectives in every chapter, which experts in the traditions of African healing and religion will not otherwise be able to source in the academic literature.” • Utafiti: Journal of African Perspectives

“A wonderful book that will prove to be highly significant.” • Roland Littlewood, University College London

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
List of Figures Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
List of Tables Publicly Available Download PDF	x
Introduction. About Life and Health Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter 1. Scientific Language, Knowledge Frameworks and Ways of Reasoning Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	16
Chapter 2. Life Animation and Transmission: The Language of the Ancestors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	43
Chapter 3. Life Resources, Sustenance and Growth: The Language of the Spirit and Life-Force of Nature (Kɔntɔnmɛ) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	54
Chapter 4. Health Delivery and Healing Processes: The White Bagr Healing Cult and the Food Domain Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	78
Chapter 5. Health Delivery and Healing Processes: The Black Bagr Healing Cult and the Domain of Healing Toxins, the Inedible and Undomesticated Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	112
Chapter 6. Language and the Cultural Ideation of Healing: The Healer and the Healing Cult (Tibr) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	143
Chapter 7. The Healer, the Healing Cult and the Patient Observed Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
Conclusion. Nature and the Cosmic Life in Elements Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	205
Appendix Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	223
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	229
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	236

Language: English
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 252
Keywords: Dagara; Health System; Medical System; Healing Systems; Ghana; Burkina Faso; African Anthropology

eBook

Published: December 17, 2018
ISBN: 9781789201024