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Spiders in and out of Court, or, ‘the long legs of the law: styles of spider divination in their sociological contexts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

David Zeitlyn
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Résumé

Tant les Banen que les Mambila au Cameroun utilisent les araignées pour leurs prédictions. La pratique intellectuelle de la technique divinatoire est liée aux différents contextes sociologiques de divination chez les Banen. Une relative liberté d'interprétation ainsi que la pose des questions au cours de la nuit est en relation avec le peu d'importance politique de la chose. A l'inverse, chez les Mambila, l'interprétation du devin est tenue à observer certaines règies et un grand nombre de questions simples peuvent être posées à la suite. Les résultats sont d'une grande importance à la Cour du Chef. Le contexte social et le contenu intellectuel ont chacun leurs règies mais sont déterminés l'un par l'autre.

Type
Courts in action
Information
Africa , Volume 63 , Issue 2 , April 1993 , pp. 219 - 240
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1993

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