Go to AfricaBib home

Go to AfricaBib home AfricaBib Go to database home

bibliographic database
Line
Previous page New search

The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here

Dissertation / thesis Dissertation / thesis Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Searching for health in a world of dis-ease: affliction management among rural Hausa of the Maradi Valley (Republic of Niger)
Author:Schmoll, Pamela GailISNI
Year:1996
Pages:334
Language:English
City of publisher:Ann Arbor, MI
Publisher:UMI
Geographic term:Niger
Subjects:African religions
faith healing
Hausa
traditional medicine
dissertations (form)
Abstract:Understanding the notion of 'lahiya' (health) is critical to an appreciation of Hausa culture, for it is a central organizing concept in Hausa thought. By isolating two themes - equilibrium and flow (exchange) - the author investigates the deep structure conceptual roots of the notion of 'lahiya' and shows the ways in which they help define health and illness, how they provide insight into other problems which Westerners would not at first glance consider 'medical', and how these conceptual strands have influenced and been influenced by historical experience (amongst others through an examination of healing in the context of the 'bori' cult of affliction and an analysis of the persistent belief in soul-eating). By grounding the investigation in a theoretical framework which sees culture as dynamic and interactive, she also addresses the issue of social transformation. The author carried out fieldwork in the village of Djirataoua, in the Maradi area of Niger, in 1984-1985.
Views