RESTORING THE BALANCE; Copyright; Contents; Preface; Chapter I Performing healing ; An introduction; Chapter II Mama Raja; The case; Chapter III Spirits of the living; Chapter IV Spirits of the underworld; Chapter V Performing indigenous healing; Chapter VI The missionary hospital; Chapter VII Mama Raja; The case continues; Chapter VIII Knowing God's mysteries; Chapter IX Walking together; Chapter X Performing healing; Conclusion; Epilogue; Appendix Healing plants; Glossary; Bibliography; Index
Summary
The study offers an ethnographically rich journey through the variety of healing methods in current Ayfat society: indigenous (obtained during female and male initiation rites), biomedical (the missionary hospital), and Christian (created by ritual healers since the coming of the missionaries). Likewise, the causes ascribed to illness range from sorcery, witchcraft, violation of ancestral or biblical rules, to biomedical conditions, a multiplicity of ways of understanding illness and healing that emerged in the context of religious change. Making choices among the variety of healing performanc
