Wim van Binsbergen

AFRICAN RELIGION

Studies in anthropology and intercultural philosophy

 

Important notice: List of publications Wim van Binsbergen

Over the years, the Shikanda portal (of which the present page on African religion has attracted the largest number of visitors) has grown to such size, and its internal structure has become so complex, that visitors have had increasing difficulty finding their way, even despite the internal search facility which appears on all the index pages of the various constituent websites. Since Wim van Binsbergen's main output consists of texts for publication, an updated list of publications with hyperlinks to all available fulltext digital texts seems the best remedy. Thanks to the good services of the African Studies Centre, Leiden, in the course of current retrodigitalisation of its members published work, many more digital texts have recently come available, so that now the list of publications could be greatly improved and given a more prominent place in the Shikanda portal. This list is now being provided with clickable links to these uploaded publications. Since that time-consuming process has not yet been completed, of many articles listed, fulltext or draft versions are in fact available in the Shikanda portal, even though no links yet appear in the list of publications. Therefore, please also look at the separate webpages within the Shikanda portal, and use the internal search facility (see below).

African religion -- Studies in anthropology and intercultural philosophy: This website (established May 2000) brings together a considerable number of articles which Wim van Binsbergen has written over the years in the fields of the anthropology and intercultural philosophy of religion, especially in the context of the African continent. The site comprises the following sections:

  1. General theoretical and comparative studies of African religion
  2. popular Islam in North Africa;
  3. historical African religion in South Central Africa;
  4. Christian churches in South Central and Southern Africa;
  5. historical African religion in West Africa;
  6. historical African religion in Southern Africa, and its connections in space and time.

Emphasis is on epistemological and methodological problems in the study of African religion; participant observation and historical comparison as empirical research strategies in this field; local communal identity, urbanisation and globalisation; and on the articulation and dissolution of self and other in the contexts of religious practice and religious research. Most sections as accompanied by a photographic essay. The countries covered include Tunisia, Guinea Bissau, Zambia, Botswana, Congo; and as regions: Southern Africa as a whole, Central Africa as a whole. While containing a critique of the reification of the ethnic group as a viable classificatory concept, the ethnic groups discussed include Khumirs, Manjaks, Nkoya, Kalanga, Tswana. This extensive and complex site is rendered accessible by an internal search facility. Exchange between site visitors, and between site visitor and site owner, is facilitated by a Forum/Message Board (a gold mine of bibliographical information), links to related sites, an add-a-link facility open to every site visitor, and a visitor's feed-back electronic form.

The material in this website is copyright © 2004 Wim van Binsbergen. Requests concerning any use other than personal study, and all other queries and remarks, may be addressed to the author, or by means of the electronic reply form at the bottom of this page.
Further information on the author may be obtained from the other websites mentioned.

 
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This search facility provides a complete electronic index of the present website and all of Wim van Binsbergen's other websites in the Shikanda domain, and moreover enables you to search the entire Internet quickly and effectively; simply enter the word(s) you require into the blank search box, and press 'Search'

 

Experience beyond scholarly analysis: click here, or on the icon to the left (representing the first tablet, Kwame, of the sangoma four-tablet oracle), if you require information as to how to initiate a consultation with Wim van Binsbergen/ Johannes Sibanda as a sangoma diviner-priest, via the Internet; alternatively, click on the icon to the right (showing Wim van Binsbergen's oracular Four Tablets) for general background information on Southern African sangomahood

 

proceed to the Shikanda portal in order to access all other websites by Wim van Binsbergen: general (intercultural philosophy, African Studies); ethnicity-identity-politics; Afrocentricity and the Black Athena debate; Ancient Models of Thought in Africa, the Ancient Near East, and prehistory; sangoma consultation; literary work
also a highly sensitive in-site search facility is now available at the overall Shikanda.net portal homepage, covering all Wim van Binsbergen's sites in a single search action

 

also a highly sensitive in-site search facility is now available at the overall Shikanda.net portal homepage, covering all Wim van Binsbergen's sites in a single search action
PLEASE NOTE: AN ENTIRE NEW WEBSITE HAS NOW BEEN DEVOTED TO WIM VAN BINSBERGEN RESEARCH INTO NORTH AFRICAN RELIGION AND SOCIETY, CLICK HERE (2007)

NEW

A NEW WEBPAGE HAS RECENTLY BEEN INITIATED, BRINGING TOGETHER ALL WIM VAN BINSBERGEN'S WRITINGS ON GEOMANCY IN AFRICA AND WORLDWIDE
The complete audio files of a two-hour live interview (in Dutch) with Wim van Binsbergen (interviewer Winfred Kemp), at the Netherlands KRO radio network, 11 August 2004, 8.10-10.00 hrs, on (1) becoming and being a religious anthropologist, (2) rejecting -- at the height of one's academic career -- the objectifying distancing gaze, in order to become a diviner-priest-healer in the African sangoma religion, and subsequently (3) reflecting on that process and its wider epistemological and existential implications, now as a professor of intercultural philosophy De complete audio files van een 2 uur durend live interview (in het Nederlands) met Wim van Binsbergen (interviewer Winfred Kemp) op de KRO, 11 augustus 2004, 8.10-10 uur, over (1) wat is het om religieus antropoloog te worden en te zijn; (2) wat is het om op het hoogtepunt van je academische carriere die objectiverende, afstandelijke blik te verwerpen, en in plaats daarvan waarzegger-priester-genezer in de Afrikaanse sangoma religie te worden; (3) wat is het om vervolgens over dat proces, en zijn verdere kennistheoretische en existentiele strekking, verder na te denken, inmiddels als hoogleraar interculturele filosofie

click here for first hour (20 Mb MP3) klik hier voor het eerste uur van de uitzending
click here for second hour (20 Mb MP3) klik hier voor het tweede uur van de uitzending
(use 'Save Target As... under the right-hand mouse button)

 

proceed to the Shikanda portal in order to access all other websites by Wim van Binsbergen: general (intercultural philosophy, African Studies); ethnicity-identity-politics; Afrocentricity and the Black Athena debate; Ancient Models of Thought in Africa, the Ancient Near East, and prehistory; sangoma consultation; literary work
also a highly sensitive in-site search facility is now available at the overall Shikanda.net portal homepage, covering all Wim van Binsbergen's sites in a single search action

Articles included in the present website:
(articles in Dutch marked by an orange background)

topic and shortened title

publication details
(0) General theoretical and comparative studies of African religion
  Experiential anthropology, and the reality and world history of spirit: Questions for Edith Turner van Binsbergen, Wim M.J., 2007, 'Experiential anthropology, and the reality and world history of spirit: Questions for Edith Turner', expanded version of a contribution to the Symposium ‘Healing and Spirituality’, Research Institute for Religious Studies and Theology (RST) / Research Institute for Social and Cultural Research (NISCO), Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands, Tuesday 30 January 2007
  Durkheim on sacred and profane (largely in Dutch) van Binsbergen, Wim M.J., 1967, 'Het begrippenpaar ‘sacre/profane’ van Emile Durkheim (een verkenning)', sociologie-scriptie in het kader van de kandidaatsstudie culturele antropologie aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam, Sociological Institute, Amsterdam University (supervisor J. Berting), with an extensive Postscript 2007
  'Divination through space and time' (click for fast-loading presentation of a detailed theoretical and comparative argument of set out in more than a hundred slides, with lavish illustrations) 'Divination through space and time', key note address, International conference, Leiden, National Museum for Ethnology (conveners: Philip Peek, Walter van Beek, Jan Jansen, Annette Schmidt): ‘Realities re-viewed / revealed : Divination in sub-saharan Africa -- Realites revues / revelees: Divination en afrique sub-saharienne, July 4 – 5, 2005; and click here for abstract
  Spiritualiteit en transcendentie 'Spiritualiteit en transcendentie: Een onderzoek naar spiritualiteit vertrekkend vanuit Otto Duintjers Onuitputtelijk is de Waarheid', lezing door Wim van Binsbergen voor Studium Generale en Filosofie Oost-West (2e lustrum), Utrecht, 21 april 2004
  Intercultural encounters: African and anthropological lessons towards a philosophy of interculturality
van Binsbergen, W.M.J., Intercultural encounters: African and anthropological lessons towards a philosophy of interculturality, Berlin/Muenster: LIT, 610 pp. (contains the final, greatly rewritten versions of several of the papers listed on this page; these individual papers will be gradually removed from this website)
  Rupture and fusion in the approach to myth van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 2003, 'Rupture and fusion in the approach to myth
Situating myth analysis between philosophy, poetics, and long-range historical reconstruction, with an application to the ancient and world-wide mythical complex of leopard-skin symbolism'
paper read at the International Conference ‘Myth: Theory and the Disciplines’, 12 December 2003
University of Leiden: Research School CNWS (School of Asian, African, and Amerindian Studies), IIAS (The International Institute for Asian Studies); and NWO (Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research)
  From an African bestiary to universal science? van Binsbergen, WM.J., unpublished (2001), 'From an African bestiary to universal science?
Cluster analysis opens up a world-wide historical perspective on animal symbolism in divine attributes, divination sets, and in the naming of clans, constellations, zodiacs, and lunar mansions'
  'The underpinning of scientific knowledge systems: Epistemology or hegemonic power? The implications of Sandra Harding’s critique of North Atlantic science for the appreciation of African knowledge systems' (PDF) van Binsbergen, WM.J., 2002, 'The underpinning of scientific knowledge systems: Epistemology or hegemonic power? The implications of Sandra Harding’s critique of North Atlantic science for the appreciation of African knowledge systems', paper presented at the Colloquium ‘La rencontre des rationalites’, organised by the African Centre for Advanced Studies, the International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies (CIPSH) and UNESCO, Porto Novo, Benin, September 18-21, 2002
  Derrida on religion: glimpses of interculturality
(on Christianity, Islam and Judaism) 		van Binsbergen, WM.J., 2000, 'Derrida on religion: glimpses of interculturality', paper read at the Research Group on Spirituality, Dutch-Flemish Association for Intercultural Philosophy, Rotterdam, April 2000; and the final version published as: van Binsbergen, WM.J., 2000, 'Derrida on religion: glimpses of interculturality', Quest: An African Journal of Philosophy / Revue Africaine de Philosophie, XIX: 129-152
  In search of spirituality: Provisional conceptual and theoretical explorations from the cultural anthropology of religion and the history of ideas van Binsbergen, WM.J., 1999, 'In search of spirituality: Provisional conceptual and theoretical explorations from the cultural anthropology of religion and the history of ideas', paper read at the Research Group on Spirituality, Dutch-Flemish Association for Intercultural Philosophy, Rotterdam, September 1999.
  The leopard's unchanging spots:
Long-range comparative research as a key to enduring patterns of African agency		 van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 2003-4, 'The leopard's unchanging spots: Long-range comparative research as a key to enduring patterns of African agency', slide presentation, Theme Group on Agency in Africa, African Studies Centre, Leiden, November/December 2003 (version short core group); later versions to be presented at the 6th Round Table on Myth, Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies, Harvard University, Boston (USA), 7-8 May, 2004; and the International Conference on Agency in African History, African Studies Centre, Leiden, the Netherlands, 25-27 May, 2004
  Challenges for the sociology of religion in the African context: Prospects for the next fifty Wim van Binsbergen, 2003, 'Challenges for the sociology of religion in the African context: Prospects for the next fifty years', paper read at the Social Compass 50th Anniversay Session, XXVIIth Conference of the International Society for the Sociology of Religion ISSR (theme ‘Religion and generations’), Turin, Italy, 21-25 July, 2003

a much shorter version has now been published in the 50th anniversary special issue of Social Compass: International Review of Socioloogy of Religion, 51, 1 (2004, March): 85-98
  'Islam as a constitutive factor in African ‘traditional’ religion: The evidence from geomantic divination' (PDF) paper read at the conference on Transformation processes and Islam in Africa, African Studies Centre and Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World, Leiden, The Netherlands, 15 October, 1999; forthcoming in: Breedveld, A., van Santen, J., & van Binsbergen, W.M.J., eds., Islam and transformations in Africa, Leiden: Brill
  African spirituality: An approach from intercultural philosophy greatly revised and expanded version of a paper read at the June 2000 meeting of the Research Group on Spirituality, an initiative of the Dutch-Flemish Association for Intercultural Philosophy NVVIF, held at the Philosophical Faculty, Erasmus University Rotterdam; final version published (both in English and in Spanish versions) in: Polylog IV, 2003.
  Religion and development: Reflexions on the work of Philip Quarles van Ufford and Matthew Schoffeleers

with downloadable Text Only version

 greatly expanded version of a text originally published in Anthropologische Verkenningen, 1991
 

A critical appraisal of Mudimbe:
(1) full text
(2) greatly shortened text as orally presented at SOAS, 1st February, 2001
(3) downloadable TXT version of shortened text

 ' ''An incomprehensible miracle'': Central African clerical intellectualism versus African historic religion: A close reading of Valentin Mudimbe’s Tales of Faith'; Opening lecture in a series 'Reading Mudimbe', organized by Louis Brenner and Kai Kresse, Centre of African Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, London, United Kingdom, 1st February, 2001

a slightly edited version has now been published as: Wim van Binsbergen, 2005, ' ''An incomprehensible miracle'' -- Central African clerical intellectualism versus African historic religion: A close reading of Valentin Mudimbe's Tales of Faith', in: Kai Kresse, ed., Reading Mudimbe, special issue of the Journal of African Cultural Studies, 17, 1, June 2005: 11-65.
  (a) ASA paper 1976 on shrines in Tunisia and Zambia
(b) appendix table (needs editing)		 Wim M.J. van Binsbergen, 1976, 'Shrines, cults and society in North and Central Africa: A comparative analysis', paper read at the Conference on Regional Cults and Oracles (Annual Conference, Association of Social Anthropologists) Manchester, March April 1976. NEW
     
     
(1) popular Islam in North Africa; click here for photo essay -- PLEASE NOTE: AN ENTIRE NEW WEBSITE HAS NOW BEEN DEVOTED TO WIM VAN BINSBERGEN RESEARCH INTO NORTH AFRICAN RELIGION AND SOCIETY, CLICK HERE
  First religious fieldwork: Tunisia 1968
van Binsbergen, Wim M.J., 'First religious fieldwork: Tunisia 1968 ', English translation of: Van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1987, ‘Eerste veldwerk: Tunesie 1968’, in: Van Binsbergen, W.M.J., & M.R. Doornbos, 1987, eds, Afrika in spiegelbeeld, Haarlem: In de Knipscheer, pp. 21-55; revised English version included as chapter 1 in: van Binsbergen, W.M.J., Intercultural encounters: African and anthropological lessons towards a philosophy of interculturality, Berlin/Muenster: LIT
Van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1987, ‘Eerste veldwerk: Tunesie 1968’, in: Van Binsbergen, W.M.J., & M.R. Doornbos, 1987, eds, Afrika in spiegelbeeld, Haarlem: In de Knipscheer, pp. 21-55  
  Popular Islam in North Africa Van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1980, ‘Popular and formal Islam, and supralocal relations: The highlands of northwestern Tunisia, 1800-1970’, Middle Eastern Studies (London), 16, 1: 71-91
  Cult of saints in northwestern Tunisia Van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1985, ‘The cult of saints in north-western Tunisia: An analysis of contemporary pilgrimage structures’, in: E. Gellner, ed, Islamic dilemmas: Reformers, nationalists and industrialization: The southern shore of the Mediterranean, Berlin/New York/Amsterdam: Mouton, 1985, pp. 199-239
  The interpretation of popular Islamic myth Van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1985, ‘The historical interpretation of myth in the context of popular Islam’, in:Van Binsbergen, W.M.J., & J.M. Schoffeleers, 1985, eds, Theoretical explorations in African religion, London/Boston: Kegan Paul International, pp. 189-224; revised version of: Van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1980c, ‘Interpreting the myth of Sidi Mhammed: Oral history in the highlands of North-Western Tunesia’, in: K. Brown & M. Roberts, eds, Using Oral Sources: Vansina and Beyond, special issue, Social Analysis (Adelaide), 1, 4: 51-73. Revised version of 1980
(2) historical African religion in South Central Africa; click here for photo essay
  photo essay: Ushwana: het naamverervingsritueel bij de Nkoja van westelijk Zambia (English version in preparation) Van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1990, 'Oesjwana: het naamverervingsritueel bij de Nkoja van westelijk Zambia', foto presentatie bij de gelegenheid van de opening van het Pieter de la Courtgebouw, Faculteit Sociale Wetenschappen, Rijksuniversiteit Leiden, mei 1990.
  Theoretical and experiental dimensions of studying the Nkoya ancestral cult Van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1981, ‘Theoretical and experiential dimensions in the study of the ancestral cult among the Zambian Nkoya’, paper read at the symposium on Plurality in Religion, International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences Intercongress, Amsterdam, 22-25 April, 1981, 22 pp
  A modes-of-production approach to religion and ritual (with Peter Geschiere) excerpt from: Van Binsbergen, W.M.J., & P.L. Geschiere, 1985, ‘Marxist theory and anthropological practice: The application of French Marxist anthropology in fieldwork’, in: Van Binsbergen, W.M.J., & P. Geschiere, eds, Old modes of production and capitalist encroachment: Anthropological explorations in Africa, London/Boston: Kegan Paul International, pp. 235-89
  Studying girl's puberty rites among the Zambian Nkoya
English translation of: Van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1987, ‘De schaduw waar je niet overheen mag stappen: Een westers onderzoeker op het Nkoja meisjesfeest’, in: Van Binsbergen, W.M.J., & M.R. Doornbos, 1987, eds, Afrika in spiegelbeeld, Haarlem: In de Knipscheer, pp. 139-182
revised version included as chapter 2 in: van Binsbergen, W.M.J., Intercultural encounters: African and anthropological lessons towards a philosophy of interculturality, Berlin/Muenster: LIT
 

Reconciliation: A major African social technology of shared and recognised humanity (ubuntu)

van Binsbergen, Wim M.J., 'Reconciliation: A major African social technology of shared and recognised humanity (ubuntu)'; paper presented at the Workshop on Globalization and Culture, Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria, South Africa, 24 April, 1999; revised version included as chapter 11 in: van Binsbergen, W.M.J., Intercultural encounters: African and anthropological lessons towards a philosophy of interculturality, Berlin/Muenster: LIT
Nederlandse versie: Van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1997, ‘Verzoening: Perspectieven vanuit de culturele antropologie van Afrika’, In de marge: Tijdschrift voor levensbeschouwing en wetenschap, theme issue on ‘verzoening’, 6, 4: 28-39  
 

The infancy of Edward Shelonga: an extended case study in medical and religious anthropology from the Zambia Nkoya

now with downloadable TXT version: part (1); part (2)

 First published in: van der Geest, J.D.M., & van der Veen, K.W., 1979, eds., In search of health: Essays in medical anthropology, Amsterdam: Antropologisch Sociologisch Centrum, pp. 19-90
  'Explorations in the history and sociology of territorial cults in Zambia' (1500-1950 CE)
'Explorations in the history and sociology of territorial cults in Zambia'
(1500-1950 CE)
chapter 3 of: Religious change inZambia: Exploratory Studies (Kegan Paul International, London/Boston, 1981), pp. 100-134
by Wim van Binsbergen
(3) Christian churches in South Central and Southern Africa; click here to hear church music from Southern Africa
  Church and social control in Lusaka
Van Binsbergen, W.M.J., in the press, ‘The Christian church and social control: In a township in Lusaka, Zambia, in the early 1970s’, in: P. Konings, W. van Binsbergen, & G. Hesseling, eds., Trajectoires de liberation en Afrique noire: Hommage a Robert Buijtenhuijs, Paris: Karthala, 2000.
  Lumpa church rising, Zambia
Van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1976, ‘Religious innovation and political conflict in Zambia: A contribution to the interpretation of the Lumpa rising’, in: Van Binsbergen, W.M.J., & R. Buijtenhuijs, 1976, eds, Religious Innovation in Modern Africa Society, African Perspectives, 1976/2, Leiden: African Studies Centre, pp. 101-35. Revised reprint in: Van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1981, Religious Change in Zambia: Exploratory Studies, London/Boston: Kegan Paul International, ch. 8
  Church and state in contemporary Botswana van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1990b, ‘The state and African Independent churches in Botswana: A statistical and qualitative analysis of the application of the 1972 Societies Act’, paper presented at the conference on Power and Prayer, Institute for the Study of Politics and religion, Free University, Amsterdam, 10-14 December 1990; complete original version.

A shortened version appeared as: Van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1993, ‘African Independent churches and the state in Botswana’, in M. Bax & A. de Koster, eds, Power and prayer: Essays on Religion and politics, Amsterdam: VU [ Free University ] University Press, pp. 24-56.

(4) historical African religion in West Africa; click here for photo essay
  The land as body in Manjak religion, Guinea Bissau Van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1988, ‘The land as body: An essay on the interpretation of ritual among the Manjaks of Guinea-Bissau’, in: R. Frankenberg, ed, Gramsci, Marxism, and Phenomenology: Essays for the development of critical medical anthropology, special issue of Medical Anthropological Quarterly, new series, 2, 4, december 1988, p. 386-401
  Socio-cultural aspects of Manjak religion, Guinea Bissau Van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1984, ‘Socio-ritual structures and modern migration among the Manjak of Guinea Bissau: Ideological reproduction in a context of peripheral capitalism’, Antropologische Verkenningen (Utrecht), 3, 2: 11-43
(5) historical African religion in Southern Africa, and its connections in space and time; click here for photo essay
  Becoming a sangoma, Francistown, Botswana
Van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1991, ‘Becoming a sangoma: Religious anthropological field-work in Francistown, Botswana’, Journal of Religion in Africa, 21, 4: 309-344; revised version included as chapter 5 in: van Binsbergen, W.M.J., Intercultural encounters: African and anthropological lessons towards a philosophy of interculturality, Berlin/Muenster: LIT
  Transregional and historical connections of the Southern African four-tablet oracle Van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1996, ‘Transregional and historical connections of four-tablet divination in Southern Africa’, Journal of Religion in Africa, 26, 1: 2-29
  The Southern African four-tablet oracle as medical technology Van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1995, ‘Four-tablet divination as trans-regional medical technology in Southern Africa’, Journal of Religion in Africa, 25, 2: 114-140
 

Witchcraft in modern Africa: as virtualised boundary conditions of the kinship order

now also with Text Only downloadable version

 An earlier version of this paper was read at the panel on ‘Epistemological and ideological approaches to witchcraft analysis within African Studies: A critical assessment’, African Studies Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, 27th October - 1st November 1998; this paper now in the press in a collective volume organised by the original panel's organisers, George Bond and Diane Ciekawy
  'Sangoma in the Netherlands: On integrity in cultural mediation'

click here for Dutch version
van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1998, 'Sangoma in Nederland: Over integriteit in interculturele bemiddeling', in: Elias, M., & Reis, R., eds., Getuigen ondanks zichzelf: Voor Jan-Matthijs Schoffeleers bij zijn zeventigste verjaardag, Maastricht: Shaker, pp. 1-29
English version: van Binsbergen, Wim M.J, 'Sangoma in the Netherlands: On integrity in cultural mediation'; revised version included as chapter 6 in: van Binsbergen, W.M.J., Intercultural encounters: African and anthropological lessons towards a philosophy of interculturality, Berlin/Muenster: LIT
  The astrological origin of Islamic geomancy van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1996, 'The astrological origin of Islamic geomancy', paper read at The SSIPS/ SAGP 1996, 15th Annual Conference: ‘Global and Multicultural Dimensions of Ancient and Medieval Philosophy and Social Thought: Africana, Christian, Greek, Islamic, Jewish, Indigenous and Asian Traditions’, Binghamton University, Department of Philosophy/ Center for Medieval and Renaissance studies (CEMERS), October 1996 (PDF)
  Diffusionism and ludology: geomantic divination and mankala board-games

van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1995, Diffusionism and ludology: geomantic divination and mankala board-games, much revised and expanded version of: Van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1995, ‘Divination and board-games: Exploring the links between geomantic divination and mancala board-games in Africa and Asia’, paper read at the international colloquium 1995: Board-games in Academia’, Leiden, 9-13 April 1995; a somewhat shortened and adapted version was published as: Van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1997c, ‘Rethinking Africa’s contribution to global cultural history: Lessons from a comparative historical analysis of mankala board-games and geomantic divination’, in: Van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1997, ed, Black Athena: Ten Years After, special issue, Talanta: Proceedings of the Dutch Archaeological and Historical Society, volumes XXVIII-XXIX/ 1996-1997, pp. 221-254
  Improvising away from fixed verbal formulae in the four-tablet oracle of sangomas in contemporary Botswana van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 2003, 'Improvising away from fixed verbal formulae in the four-tablet oracle of sangomas in contemporary Botswana', paper presented at the session ‘Het discours van de expert, orale traditie tussen formule en uitvoeringtradition between formula and ’ (‘the expert’s discourse: oral performance, Association of African Studies, 2003 ’), Convenor: Jan Jansen, Netherlands Conferentie perspectives in Africa studies’, 26 ‘Power, Politics and Poetry: Dutch september, Faculteit Sociale Wetenschappen, Pieter de la Courtgebouw, Wassenaarseweg 52, Leiden
  Crossing cultural boundaries: In vindication of Southern African sangoma science van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 2000, ‘Crossing cultural boundaries’, Compass Newsletter: For endogenous development, Number 3, July 2000, ‘Vitality, Health and Disease: In soils, crops, animals and people’, guest editor Sarshan Shankar, pp. 12-13.
  'The translation of Southern African sangoma divination towards a global format, and the validity of the knowledge it produces'
van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 2003, 'The translation of Southern African sangoma divination towards a global format, and the validity of the knowledge it produces', paper tead at the symposium ‘World views, Science and Us’, Brussels, Centre Leo Apostel, Free University Brussels, Belgium, 10 June 2003; revised version included as chapter 7 in: van Binsbergen, W.M.J., Intercultural encounters: African and anthropological lessons towards a philosophy of interculturality, Berlin/Muenster: LIT
  'Sangoma en filosoof: Eenheid in de praktijk, dilemma in de theorie' van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 2003, ‘Sangoma en filosoof: Eenheid in de praktijk, dilemma in de theorie’, in: Bulhof, I.N., Poorthuis, M., & Bhagwandin, V., eds., Mijn plaats is geen plaats: Ontmoetingen tussen wereldbeschouwingen, Kampen: Klement-Pelckmans, pp. 219-231
  Ubuntu and the globalisation of Southern African thought and society
van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 2002, 'Ubuntu and the globalisation of Southern African thought and society', in: Boele van Hensbroek, P., ed., African Renaissance and Ubuntu Philosophy, special issue of: Quest: An African Journal of Philosophy, 15, 1-2, 2001: 53-89; revised version included as chapter 7 in: van Binsbergen, W.M.J., Intercultural encounters: African and anthropological lessons towards a philosophy of interculturality, Berlin/Muenster: LIT
  ‘‘We are in this for the money’’: The sangoma mediumistic cult of Southern Africa (PDF) van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1999, ‘ ‘‘We are in this for the money’’: The sangoma mediumistic cult of Southern Africa: limitations and potential of an interpretation in terms of commodification’, paper presented at the international conference: Commodification and identities: Social Life of Things revisited, Amsterdam, 10-13 June, 1999
shortened final version npublished as: ‘ ‘‘We are in this for the money'': Commodification and the sangoma cult of Southern Africa', in: Wim M.J. van Binsbergen, & Peter L. Geschiere, eds., Commodification: Things, agency and and Identities: The Social Life of Things revisited, Berlin/Munster: LIT, pp. 319-348
  Photo essay on Wim van Binsbergen's training and initiation as sangoma, Francistown and Matshelagebedi, Botswana, 1989-1991

 

Experience beyond scholarly analysis: click here, or on the icon to the left (representing the first tablet, Kwame, of the sangoma four-tablet oracle), if you require information as to how to initiate a consultation with Wim van Binsbergen/ Johannes Sibanda as a sangoma diviner-priest, via the Internet; alternatively, click on the icon to the right (showing Wim van Binsbergen's oracular Four Tablets) for general background information on Southern African sangomahood

Bibliographical resources in this site

click here for information on this site's extensive bibliographical resources

 

Forum/Message board on African Religion
this service has been discontinued

 

proceed to the Shikanda portal in order to access all other websites by Wim van Binsbergen: general (intercultural philosophy, African Studies); ethnicity-identity-politics; Afrocentricity and the Black Athena debate; Ancient Models of Thought in Africa, the Ancient Near East, and prehistory; sangoma consultation; literary work
also a highly sensitive in-site search facility is now available at the overall Shikanda.net portal homepage, covering all Wim van Binsbergen's sites in a single search action

 

The vignettes appearing at the top of all pages in this website show: (left) an African diviner drawing a geomantic divinatory theme in the sand -- the local transformation of the Islamic divination method called cilm al-raml; (right) a forked branch as the standard ancestral shrine throughout Africa (the illustration shows a village shrine in a Manjak village, Guinea Bissau; beyond the fork, three pechap ancestral shrines can be seen in the background). The overall background illustration of this website is based on the Northern rosette of the ancient cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres, France; its mandala-like structure and moving play of light and darkness (imperfectly rendered in the background format) allows us to honour this sacred spot, not so much specifically as a powerhouse of Christianity, but as a profound expression of mankind's universal religiosity.
Music on this page: RECORD LABEL: WHITE CLIFFS MEDIA
FORMAT: AUDIO COMPACT DISC WCM 9923
LENGTH: 40:35 UPC#: 7 6855-79923-2 1
PUBLICATION DATE: 05/01/97 ISBN#: 0-941677-92-3
     
page last modified: 13-01-11 15:06:03     Bravenet.com