Título

As a culture specific study that examines the contents of local perception of the etiology and management of malaria, hermeneutics explanation of local paradigms (Geertz, 2003) is employed as a theory to argue and explain the reality of the study theme.Ethno-hermeneutics arose from the combination of ideas from culture bond theory of disease (Kiev, 1972, Erinosho, 1998 and Ajala, 2003); ethnoscience model of field investigation (D‟Ambrosio, 2000) and hermeneutics explanation of local paradigms (Geertz, 2003).

Hermeneutics as a theoretical orientation, based in Aristotle‟s groundwork of theories of interpretation and semiotics, is the art and science of text interpretation. It holds that words, spoken or written, are signs and symbols of affection and impression and are not the same for all races of men. Understanding these signs and symbols could only be achieved when they

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are interpreted in the context of the culture in which they are used (D‟Ambrosio, 2000, Wills and Jost, 2007).

Heumeneutics has a long historical antecedent. It was used in the apostolic age in the interpretation of the Pauline epistles. In the medieval era, it was employed in the Medieval Christian interpretation of texts, while in the modern era; it had been applied in humanist education of the 15th century. Martin Heidegger used it in the 20th century to explain the classic philosophical issue of „other minds„. In contemporary times it has been severally applied byAndres Ortiz-Oses in the explanation of the meaning of the symbolic healing of the injury, Karl-Otto Apel, in the discourse ethics of political motivations, among others. Lambell (2011), criticised Aristitelian hermeneutics for being excessively optimistic or idealistic and overly romantic.

From the understanding of the concept of culture as distinctive patterns of behaviours, attitudes and practices, an assumption that culture is relative emerged. In essence, cultural relativity assumes that each cultural element has its own local domain and that the working of culture is sustained within the context of the distinct cultural actors (group or/and individuals).

Cultural actors thereby apply their local knowledge to construct and rework the reality of culture and nature into behaviours, attitudes and practices that continue to shape their entire worldview. This underscores Herzfeld‟s idea (1981) that indigenous theory of meanings is of necessity in the evaluation of performative culture.

In furtherance to Herzfeld‟s idea (1981), Geertz (1983) maintained that a particular cultural action is a make-up from both local-insider (emic) and external-outsider (etic) knowledge. While Geertz Clifford has been talking about the influence of local action in shaping both the structure and function of culture quite for over two decades before 1983, he does not however ignore reference to emic and etic as the two main domains of culture.

Outsider view can perhaps influence insider view and shed more meaning on the cultural construction of the outsiders. As this perspective is very fundamental to the understanding of the role attached to each of these cultural domains, our theoretical approach in this study follows emic-etic perspectives of malaria in Ibibio culture.

For an understanding of the local contents of malaria in Ibibio, both the etic and emic knowledge are indispensable. Nonetheless, since every culture has corpus of knowledge

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established as a system of explanations and ways of doing things which are accumulated and passed on through generations, emic knowledge remains more crucial than etic perception in the analysis of local contents of culture. Thus, discourse and componential analysis as well as the cultural grammar of the Ibibio, in the light of the (subjective) meanings given to malaria management become the fundamental framework of reference in this project. In this approach attempts will be made to locate local meanings and perceptions underpinning the aetiology and management of malaria among the Ibibio. The desire to explain the people‟s worldviews bordering on the classificatory model of malaria, and the implicit cultural structures associated with the malaria infection as well as how control devices are generated locally, form another basis for the use of ethno-hermeneutics ued in this thesis as theoretical point of reference.

In agreement with Geertz (2003) the cultural repertoires and the interpretation of local beliefs, knowledge, and attitudes related to malaria among the Ibibio will become obviously explainable. As observed among the Ibibio, names suggest action that accompanies the name.

Thus, the commonest terms for malaria is uto enyin- yellow eyes, akpa mbubi (shortened form of akpa mbubi adaka ada ubaha usen) stranslated to mean “you die in the evening, and wake up in the morning”, akom/ adan- oily deposits, udongo ukang nnyin refering to it as an indigenous disease, and uto enyin ekpo- that is, malaria caused by ghosts/ spirits. These terms are used to reflect the ethno-medical etymology and aetiology of the disease.

Information about malaria is part of the corpus of knowledge passed on from one generation to another and shapes the indigenous theory of meanings. Ibibio cultural actors apply their knowledge of malaria to construct and rework reality in the event of malaria attacks.

32 CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY