Thaumaturgy in Contemporary Traditional Religion

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Periodical article

Title:	Thaumaturgy in Contemporary Traditional Religion
Author:	Chilver, E.M.
Year:	1990
Periodical:	Journal of Religion in Africa
Volume:	20
Issue:	3
Period:	October
Pages:	226-247
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Cameroon
Subjects:	witchcraft Nso polity Religion and Witchcraft Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/1580885
Abstract:	This is an account of thaumaturgy in Nso'. The kingdom (or Fondom) of Nso' lies in the central high plateau of Cameroon. The study is based on information collected between 1945 and 1963. The informants were a dozen or more elderly holders of offices and lineage headships, born well before the first German passage through Nso' in 1902. The author sets out a few of the animating ideas of Nso' traditional beliefs of the older generation, including diffused divinity as the ground for existence, evil objectified as witchcraft and its perversions of power, the defence against it smudged by the moral ambiguity of counter-power, the notion of a live and arbitrating earth pervaded by the dead, and multiple causes for misfortune, many self-induced, some extraneous. Special attention is paid to the magico-religious powers of the Fon (ruler), and, in conclusion, to the exchange of meanings between the old beliefs and the new scriptural religions. Bibliogr., notes, ref.