Componentes del área de comunicación

relatives alone, 9 stated that they learned it from those who are not their relatives (Table 12, see

Appendix 3 for cases). However, the claim that their

Table 12: Learning Process of Traditional Healing

Decision to be a haalar Procasa of training Start of practice

Shaib mental illnes (spiritual calling), father's instruction

from father home village

with father

Garba other healer n.a.

Hanza from mother with mother

Maazu father's instruction from father, later from other healers

home village with father

Mai Jirgi

Rami mental illness, initiation into bori by a healer (Maikoko)

n.a. 1970s, after

quiting trade

Biye initiation into bori by Maikoko

Mai Jirgi n.a.

B.Shagari n.a. from father full time work

after quiting factory

Kamoru father's decision from father, more than 3 years of training

at Ibadan

Abdulrafy u

father's advice from father, between 1968 and 1975

1975 with father at first

Olaodudu n.a.

Busali from many healers in Yoruba

land

B .Irelubo father's instruction

Garba n.a. from father

Lamidi n.a.

Rimi

Ugoh mental illness, initiated into a mamy wota society

from spirits through initiation

1964

Yellow dream, initated into a mamy wota society

from elder people in the village, later a healer from Bendel State taught him practice in Kaduna

1975

Eberemba n.a.

Emeneke mental illness, maternal grandfather's instruction

from maternal grandfather started as a side-line in Lagos, full time at Benin 1988

Nchocha vision emd voice in childhood, father's instruction,

initiation

from father assisted father

between 1979 and 1983, started by himself 1987

Fabian temporary blindness, initated into agu society 1965

from many healers in different areas

1977

Nnana n.a

Karfe n.a. n.a.

Madaki n . a . from paternal uncle after the death

of paternal uncle

Jagaba father's decision from father started as a

side-line before father's death

Garukuwa spirits from spirits, mother taught

him bori

Shanono

Juji n.a.

Sevav n.a.

A.Igala mamy wota' s calling, father's instruction

from father 1968

Awolo vision of shopono, mental illness

n.a. 1980s

Azeez through dream

Ishola by himself from a healer in Kaduna and

from several healers in Yoruba land for 7 years

face value. It appears that healers tend to emphasise the hereditary aspect of their work. This is because there is a widely shared idea that healers who inherited healing from their father (or mother) are competent and reliable.

In my observation, the exchange of information about medical prescription and healing techniques is very common among healers in Kaduna (see Chapter V &

VI ) . Healers are often helped by assistants who

intend to practise healing by themselves. These

assistant-apprentices are not necessarily healers' relatives. Thus, while family tradition of healing work is probably still important, it is conceivable that the proportion of healers who learned the practice from non relatives would be actually higher than the survey result suggests.

In this regard, it is important to note that in this vast city of migrants, one can easily pretend to be a healer. The clients, most of whom are unrelated to healers, are in no position to know the real

backgrounds of healers. Besides, given the

significance of simple innovative practice, one can relatively easily acquire a technique good enough to

impress clients without a long process of

apprenticeship.

Finally, it should be remarked again that clients are sometimes encouraged to practise healing. This is the case of clients who consult healers associated with cults of affliction. While initiation rituals alone may not turn clients into healers instantly, clients are given an incentive and opportunity to learn the practice of healing from the initiators.

In short, the distinction between healers and lay people is not so great, and the latter can relatively easily make themselves healers in Kaduna.

CONCLUSION

To summarise the nature of traditional medicine in Kaduna, first of all, it is essential to place the practice of traditional medicine in the entire field of everyday crisis management. The significance of traditional medicine is centred on the failure, and the possibility of failure, of various activities and practices in the everyday life of the city dwellers.

Within the medical market in the city,

traditional medicine has a complementary relationship to biomedicine. Thus, traditional medicine is mostly employed when biomedicine fails to heal afflictions. In part, this is a reflection of a spreading of knowledge of the general efficacy of biomedicine. In certain areas such as child delivery and the treatment of serious illness, biomedicine has oligopolistic control in the medical market. However, this does not imply that the significance of traditional medicine as the healing of illness is generally weakened

traditional medicine is frequently employed in

prolonged therapy management. It is also important that the idea of the efficacy of traditional medicine for the treatment of afflictions caused by personal and spiritual beings is widely shared by people and conducive to the use of traditional medicine in the city.

Traditional medicine is also employed to cope with an extremely wide range of social and economic problems. It is used when activities, whatever they are, fail to produce the expected outcome. It is also used as a means of protection and ensuring success

when the possibility of failure of action is

considered as being high. In this regard, the

prevalence of traditional medicine is indicative of the high level of uncertainty and insecurity in the everyday lives of people in the city.

The practice of traditional medicine consists of stable ethnic and regional elements and innovative and universally appealing elements. Changes in the mode of

practice are therefore incremental rather than

dramatic. This also suggests that similarities and differences in the practices and ideas of healing should be understood in terms of a flow of traditional medical cultures. Thus, some practices and ideas are

unevenly distributed among healers sharing a

particular ethnic identity. Others are more widely distributed among healers from the same region. Yet still others are almost universally spread among healers from all over the country. In terms of the forms of traditional medical practice, while some practices are elaborate, others, especially innovative practices, are remarkably simple. It is the latter kind of practice that is widely spread among healers in Kaduna. On the whole, healers appropriate rather limited sets of practices and aetiological ideas to

achieve diverse objectives. In that sense, ■ the

practice of traditional medicine exemplifies the multiple appropriation of a particular cultural form

in the city.

In general, the practice of traditional healing is oriented toward profit-making. It can be highly lucrative, whereas the possibility of failure is equally high. On the other hand, the practice of healing is an ideal side-line for various economic activities. This is because entry into this business is relatively easy: 1) it does not involve large capital and high running costs; 2) it does not always

necessitate a long and difficult process of

apprenticeship, and 3) the anonymity and limited social networks of city dwellers make the monitoring

of the authenticity and legitimacy of healers

difficult and make it easy for anyone to be a healer. Thus, traditional healing can be seen as one of

the informal economic activities in the city. Many healers practise healing as a part of their economic diversification strategy. In that sense, they are basically entrepreneurs who are ambitious and yet insecure amid the uncertainties of everyday life in the city. In the following chapter, I shall illustrate this point the case of Mr.Ishola.

CHAPTER V