A Concrete Psychological Investigation of Ifá Divination Una Investigación Psicológica Concreta de la Adivinación de Ifá Uma Pesquisa Psicológica Concreta da Adivinhação de Ifá

Martin J. Packer Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia and Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, United States

Silvia Tibaduiza Sierra Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia

Abstract Resumen Resumo

Divination —the consultation of an oracle in or- La adivinación —consulta de un oráculo con el A adivinhação —consulta de um oráculo com der to determine a course for future action— has fin de determinar acciones futuras— se ha consi- o fim de determinar ações futuras— tem sido long been considered a practice characteristic of derado una práctica característica de la “menta- considerada uma prática característica da “men- “primitive mentality.” We describe research with lidad primitiva”. A continuación se presenta una talidade primitiva”. A continuação, apresenta-se the babalawo of Santería, who are expert in the investigación con los babalawos de la santería: uma pesquisa com os babalawos da santería: divinatory system of Ifá. Our first goal is to offer los expertos en el sistema de adivinación de Ifá. os especialistas no sistema de adivinhação de an example of what Vygotsky called “concrete El primer objetivo fue dar un ejemplo de lo que Ifá. O primeiro objetivo foi dar um exemplo do psychology”: the study of particular systems of Vygotsky llamó “psicología concreta”: el estudio que Vygotsky chamou “psicologia concreta”: o psychological functions in the concrete circum- de sistemas de funciones psicológicas particu- estudo de sistemas de funções psicológicas par- stances of specific professional complexes. Our lares dentro de las circunstancias concretas de ticulares dentro das circunstâncias concretas de second goal is to explore the character of divina- complejos profesionales específicos. El segundo complexos profissionais específicos. O segundo tion as psychological and social process, given the objetivo fue explorar la adivinación como pro- objetivo foi explorar a adivinhação como proces- somewhat negative views of divination expressed ceso psicológico y social, examinando las no- so psicológico e social, examinando as noções, by many social scientists, including Lévy-Bruhl ciones, un tanto negativas, que han expresado um tanto negativas, que têm expressado alguns and Vygotsky himself. Analysis of a recorded algunos científicos sociales sobre este concepto, científicos sociais sobre esse conceito, incluin- consultation identified features characteristic of incluyendo a Lévy-Bruhl y al mismo Vygotsky. do Lévy-Bruhl e o próprio Vygotsky. Alguns institutional discourse. We argue that the ins- Algunos rasgos característicos del discurso ins- traços característicos do discurso institucional titutional facts of divination may constitute an titucional se identificaron a través del análisis se identificaram por meio da análise de registros unfamiliar ontology, but the epistemology —the de registros de audio de consultas al oráculo de áudio de consultas ao oráculo por parte dos appeal to logic and to empirical evidence— is a por parte de los autores. En este trabajo se argu- autores. Neste trabalho, argumentou-se que os familiar one. mentó que los aspectos institucionales de la adi- aspectos institucionais da adivinhação podem vinación pueden constituir una ontología poco constituir uma ontologia pouco comum, mas común, pero una epistemología familiar. uma epistemologia familiar.

Keywords: cultural psychology, higher psycho- Palabras clave: psicología cultural, funciones Palavras-chave: psicologia cultural, funções psi- logical functions, Lev Vygotsky, divination, con- psicológicas superiores, Lev Vygotsky, adivina- cológicas superiores, Lev Vygotsky, adivinhação, crete psychology, argumentation. ción, psicología concreta, argumentación. psicologia concreta, argumentação.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Martin J. Packer, e-mail: [email protected]. Department of Psychology, Univer- sidad de los Andes.

Scientific research article Received: 2 february 2012 - Accepted: 20 august 2012

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“My history of cultural develop- spheres of social life.” The task, then, would ment is an abstract treatment of concre- be to study how the professional complex of a te psychology.” (Vygotsky, 1986, p. 68) Moscow worker is structured, for example. Vy- gotsky (1986) proposed that such investigation The writing of Lev Vygotsky has be- would explore “the different spheres of behavior come increasing influential in many countries (professional complex, etc.), the structure and around the world. It is now well-known that Vy- the hierarchy of functions where they relate to gotsky proposed a revolutionary psychology that and clash with one another” (p. 70). Evidently would overcome dualism, in the study of con- this would be the study of specific individuals in sciousness as a material process. He viewed con- their particular practices, but in his short notes sciousness as our relationship to the world, and Vygotsky merely sketched the outline of a con- argued that the various psychological functions crete psychology. It is necessary to fill in many work together as a dynamic system. He insisted of the details. that this system ought to be studied as a whole, In this article we will describe our own ef- rather than divided into separate components forts to study personality in this sense of a fluid as is typically done in psychological research. configuration of higher psychological functions Psychology should study the “real personality” in a social environment. We will describe our as a unity, rather than traits or characteristics, empirical exploration of the “living, specific psy- a unity always located in what Vygotsky called chology” (Bozhovich, 2009, p. 37) of a particular “the social situation of development.” professional complex –that of a babalawo, the What is less well-known is that in his note- priest of Ifá divination in the syncretic religion books, unpublished until recently, Vygotsky an- of Santería. We have two goals. The first is to ticipated a “concrete psychology” which would clarify the character of a concrete psychology, move beyond the abstract conceptualization of and to contribute to the various lines of work human psychological functioning to undertake that in recent years have taken psychology into detailed investigations of specific ways of be- the “wild” (cf. Cole, 1995; Hutchins, 1995; Lave, ing human (Vygotsky, 1986). He complained, 1991). The second is to explore the nature of or confessed, to himself that his psychology re- the verbal reasoning that occurs in divination, mained abstract in its treatment. One might say, given the somewhat negative views expressed though he didn’t use these words himself, that by Vygotsky himself on this relationship, and his psychology was still at a phase of develop- the equally negative views of other social sci- ment where it simply described the generic entists. We shall describe the practice of divina- person. He wrote that “My history of cultural tion in the context of a session of consultation. development is an abstract treatment of concrete Our analysis of this consultation demonstrates psychology” (Vygotsky, 1986, p. 68). In a con- features characteristic of institutional discourse, crete psychology, in contrast, the holistic model frequent reported speech, and “reading” of the of personality would be related to the real life of client, with assertions and questions that pre- specific persons, or specific kinds of person, in sume prior knowledge. Much of the interaction specific circumstances. Vygotsky proposed that is oriented to predictions, prophesies, and the considered concretely the higher psychological giving of advice, and the latter takes the form of functions can continually “change their role,” so what we argue is reasoned argument, with clear- that “there is no permanent hierarchy” among ly stated claims, warrants and grounding. them but rather “a sphere of possible roles” that We have argued elsewhere that there are par- each function can play, varying in “different allels between Vygotsky’s project and Foucault’s

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notion of a “historical ontology of ourselves” use of dreams for divination. He described how (Foucault, 1993; Packer, 2008), and it is relevant for “the South African races” dreams assisted in to sketch these parallels briefly. For both Vy- contact with the dead. He recounted not one but gotsky and Foucault, thought is not individual three dreams of Kaffirs1. Here is the second, the mental representation, because human cognition most straightforward of the three: is grounded in embodied practical activity, his- A man dreams that an attempt has been made to torically constituted and socially distributed. For take his life by one whom he has always regarded both, ontogenesis involves ontological change: as his true friend. On awakening he says: “This the person is a product of the social, and (in Fou- is strange; a man who never stoops to meanness cault’s terms) power is folded to form the self or wishes to destroy me. I cannot understand it, but (in Vygotsky’s terms) self-mastery is necessary it must be true, for ‘dreams never lie.’” Although for the personality to become a system of higher the suspected friend protests his innocence, he psychological functions. Both conducted studies immediately cuts his acquaintance (p. 108) of “constitution”: the relation of mutual formation between person and form of life (Packer, 2010). Lévy-Bruhl explained that this unmask- We can see these parallels in operation in the ing of wizards and revealing of danger stemmed overlaps between research on occupational per- from the contact which dreams provide with the sonalities such as waitress (Rose, 2001), bartender dead: “The dream is a revelation coming from (Beach, 1993), and factory worker (Scribner, 1985) the unseen world” (p. 109). He went on to de- within the framework of cultural psychology, and scribe how when dreams and omens do not ap- studies of, for example, Indian ascetics the Jain pear spontaneously, the “primitive” will employ (Laidlaw, 2005) within a Foucauldian framework. more active forms of divination. “To calculate We shall argue that Ifá divination is an occasion the chances carefully and systematically, and try of constitution, though of the client as much as to think out what will happen, and make plans the babalawo. accordingly, is hardly the way in which primitive mentality proceeds” (p. 159). Instead, divination Divination and “Primitive Mentality” is their tool of choice. Divination has long been viewed as a key After concluding that primitive people have component of primitive mentality. Lévy-Bruhl’s no concepts, no true ideas, no sense of self or so- analysis of La Mentalité Primitive (1922/1923) led ciety, no definite conception of reality, and fail him to the conclusion that: to recognize the basic laws of logic, Lévy-Bruhl “The mind of the ‘primitive’ has hardly any room did at least acknowledge that difficulties face any for such questions as ‘how’ or ‘why?’” “Myths, researcher trying to grasp another way of living funeral rites, agrarian practices, and the exercise in the world: of magic do not appear to originate in the desire In spite of the most careful effort, our thought for a rational explanation; they are the primiti- cannot assimilate them [the paths of primitive ves’ response to collective needs and sentiments thought] with what it knows as its “ordinary” which are profound and mighty and of compul- sion” (Levy-Bruhl, 1910/1925, p. 25). 1 “Kaffir” has become a pejorative term in Africa today, especially in South Africa, in large part because it origi- nated in the Arabic term for unbeliever. It is a term used In Lévy-Bruhl’s account, one of the “most in the Koran in the same way. But until the early 20th important components of the primitive’s mental century it was used to refer to natives of Southern Afri- ca, often specifically to the Xhosa people. It is the term experience” (1910/1926, p. 122), and one of the that Lévy-Bruhl used to refer to the natives of South central aspects of mythical mentality, was the Africa.

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objects. It therefore despoils them of what there Anthropologists have often complained is in them that is elementally concrete, emotio- that the diviner fails to “go behind” his beliefs nal, and vital. This it is which renders so difficult, and recognize them as symbols of psychological and so frequently uncertain, the comprehension or social forces: “He treats as self-evident truths of institutions wherein is expressed the mentali- what social anthropologists and depth psychol- ty, mystic rather than logical, or primitive people ogists would try to reduce to rational terms” (p. 447). (Turner, 1961, p. 231). Divination is assumed to symbolize some deeper rationality, which it is the Lévy-Bruhl genuinely seemed to want to job of the anthropologist to uncover. The diviner explore primitive mentality objectively, without confuses appearance and reality; the anthropol- presumptions, especially avoiding the presump- ogist can, and must, set these straight. tion that such people ought to think the way However, in making such claims it would Westerners do. Primitive mentality was not to be appear that the anthropologist is just as guilty as considered an early form of Occidental, reason- the diviner of failing to permit any falsification able, mentality; it was fundamentally distinct, of their own worldview. If the diviner does not essentially other. He concluded (1910/1925) that allow any test of the existence of spirits, neither such people did not lack the capacity to think does the anthropologist. The former simply ac- abstractly and logically, they simply lacked the cepts that they exist; the latter simply accepts that custom and habit to do so. they do not. The diviner interprets the signs of Much anthropological research since Lévy- the oracle as evidence for a deeper, hidden orga- Bruhl’s time has continued to presume that nization. The anthropologist does the same! Both divination is inherently irrational. For example, are guilty of what Garfinkel has called the “docu- in a much-cited article, Moore argued that the mentary method of interpretation,” where an ev- function of divination is merely to introduce eryday phenomenon is taken to document some what is essentially a randomization mechanism kind of hidden structure, for which the phenom- to disrupt customary practices that have become enon is taken to be evidence, and the structure ineffective (as a result of failure-due-to-success is then appealed to as an “explanation” of the effects, such as hunting out an area, or hunting phenomenon. Instead, Garfinkel (1996) recom- to the point that the remaining animals become mends, we should be looking at the ways the or- wary and hard to catch). This is to say that divi- ganization of everyday phenomena is achieved. nation functions precisely because it cannot pre- What is needed is a method of investigation dict the future (Moore, 1957). which does not try to replace the local, vernacu- Similarly, Evans-Pritchard (1937) famously lar, indigenous ontology with either a Western or asserted that Azande divination involves a self- an academic conception of social reality. limiting system for explaining away its failures. The crux of the matter is that the diviners’ Zeitlyn (1990) drew a parallel between the ques- claims are incommensurate with those of tioning in a session of divination and an early anthropologists. The anthropological response experiment by Garfinkel in which the researcher to this problem often consists of reducing the responded to a participant’s questions by throw- diviners’ statements to phenomena that the ing a dice. Garfinkel’s conclusion was that people diviners make no pretension to address. This can always find meaning in random events, and strategy has the advantage of neutralizing the Zeitlyn argued that this is precisely what hap- diviners’ truth-claims whilst making them pens in divination. meaningful in terms of scientific criteria. The

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posited underlying “essence” provides the vo- it, was for Vygotsky an example of the “higher cabulary for translating one set of representa- psychological functions,” because the Kaffir was tions into another in accordance with classic dreaming deliberately, with control of his own epistemology… To justify this, anthropologists abilities. The Kaffir’s dream was, then, an illus- proclaim diviners, clients, and themselves as tration of a true personality. “imputing meanings” in order to make sense However, Vygotsky (1997) considered the of behaviour that “is assumed to be connected Kaffir to still be primitive in another sense. He to a hidden state of affairs”... Crucially, these di- argued that although divination -tossing bones, fferent actors do not disclose and relate to the for example- might be “the beginning of con- same underlying reality (Myhre, 2006, p. 314). scious self-control of one’s own actions,” (pp. 46- 47) it is only the beginning. Although “once an In the analysis we report here, we have exceptionally important and significant moment tried to avoid replacing the local ontology of the in the system of behavior” (p. 47) it is, and was, consultation with our own conception of real- nonetheless “rudimentary” (p. 47). He wrote: ity. However, the fact that a babalawo can live [I]t is a fact that the man who first cast lots took​​ and practice divination successfully in the heart an important and decisive step towards the de- of a modern city such as Bogotá suggests that velopment of cultured behavior. This does not incommensurability is not the correct way to contradict the fact that such an operation kills characterize the relationship between Santería any serious attempt to use reflection or expe- and the reality of modern anthropology. We rience in real life: Why bother to think and learn, shall return to this point later. when you can simply see what you dream, or roll the dice? Such is the fate of all forms of magical Vygotsky on Divination behavior: very soon they become an obstacle for Rather surprisingly, in his notes on con- the further development of ideas, though at one crete psychology Vygotsky also wrote of the Kaf- stage of the historical development of thinking fir. Writing just a few years after the publication they constitute the embryo of certain trends of Lévy-Bruhl’s work, he discussed the case of a (Vygotsky, 1997, p. 47). judge who is also a husband as an example of how psychological “functions change the hierar- Vygotsky’s position here resembles that of chy in different spheres of social life” (Vygotsky, Moore, who, as we noted earlier, argued that 1986, p. 69) but then he also wrote of the psycho- divination works precisely because it cannot logical functions of the Kaffir, which, he argued, predict the future. For Vygotsky, the Kaffir was were not examples of “primitive” functioning: a personality, employing higher psychological In him (the leader of the Kaffirs) sleep acquired functions, but his divination through dreaming a regulatory junction through the social signifi- was still a long way from modern reasoning. It cance of dreams (unexplainable difficulty, etc., was merely a way of deciding what to do when the beginnings of magic, cause and effect, ani- there is no obvious basis for choice, a way of de- mism, etc.): what he sees in his dreams, he will ciding which precluded the use of reflection or do. This is a reaction of a person, and not a pri- experience. mitive reaction (p. 65). The question we shall focus on in our analy- sis, then, is whether divination necessarily “kills The divinatory dreaming of a Kaffir, then, any serious attempt to use reflection or experience far from being an illustration of the limitations in real life” and whether it indeed stands opposed of primitive mentality, as Lévy-Bruhl had seen to any effort to “try to think out what will happen,

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and make plans accordingly.” Is “the mystical” the interviews, fieldwork, and background read- inevitably opposed to “the logical”? Is divination ing. The subsequent section presents an analysis just “magical behavior,” perhaps an “embryo” of of the details of the consultation session. Our the historical development of thinking but also an analytic approach here is that of conversation “obstacle” to such development? Or is it the case analysis (Goodwin & Heritage, 1990; Sacks, that, as Scribner (1977) noted, “We know very Schegloff, & Jefferson, 1974; Schegloff, 1995). little about the social conditions which give rise Conversation analysis focuses on the pragmatics to the logical genre, how cultures define the oc- of conversation, and the practical and interac- casions for its use, [or] through what experiences tive construction of conversational interchang- individuals acquire its schema” (p. 499). es. It pays attention not so much to what people say as to what they do by saying. It also attends Method to the way participants in an interaction display We have suggested that Vygotsky’s concrete their understanding of what they and others are psychology, like Foucault’s ontology of our- doing, with sensitivity to the concrete setting of selves, calls for an investigation of constitution, the interaction. We selected for detailed analysis and we have proposed elsewhere that such an one short excerpt (Transcript 1) from the con- investigation requires that the traditional tools sultation, an excerpt that deals with a particu- of ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, and the larly mundane matter, in part to avoid disclosing detailed study of practical activity, are appropri- personal details, for much of the consultation ately reforged (for details, cf. Packer, 2010, 2011). dealt with very personal considerations. The Our study of the babalawo involved all three of features we will identify in this excerpt occurred these tools (Tibaduiza, 2010a, 2010b). The inves- throughout the consultation, however. tigation was conducted by the second author, su- pervised by the first author, in the city of Bogotá Santería over a period of six months. Ethnographic field- Santería is an Afro-Cuban religion whose work was carried out, primarily in the houses formation began in the 16th century with the of three babalawo, where they saw their clients. transportation of Yoruba slaves to Cuba. These These houses were located in three different people brought with them a set of beliefs based neighborhoods. A Cajon al Muerto (a spiritual on the worship of the orishas (divinities in the ceremony to honor the dead) which took place Regla de Ocha, a Yoruba religion) (Clarke, 1939). in one of the houses was also attended. A consul- The resemblance —at least superficially— of this tation was arranged with the first babalawo, then tradition to the Catholicism which had also ar- introductory interviews were scheduled with the rived in the Americas facilitated a syncretic re- others. A total of five interviews were conducted lationship between these two religions, and this with the babalawo with whom the consultation was reinforced by the restrictions that Catholic was conducted, and two interviews with each of masters placed in their slaves (Bastide, 1969). the others. All interviews were tape-recorded Over time, a correspondence, part resignifica- and transcribed, as was the consultation. Inter- tion and part concealment, became established views were also conducted with three clients, between Yoruba orishas and Catholic saints two male, one female, in their places of work. (Wedel, 2004). As a result, in Santería today the The interviews focused on people’s motives for terms santo and orisha are used interchangeably. seeking a consultation. However, key differences remain, for example The following section describes what we in rituals and in the conceptions of relation- learned about Santería and Ifá divination from ship with ancestors, including the importance

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attributed to direct and two-way communica- attends a consultation (García, 2000). Tese tion with the spiritual dimension, established in verses summarize thousands of years of accu- practices of trance-possession. mulated wisdom, and contain predictions and Santería practitioners believe in the exis- mundane and spiritual prescriptions (De Souza, tence of a supreme god along with a large num- 2007). The Ifá divination system was in 2008 in- ber of subordinate deities to whom people can scribed by UNESCO on its list of “Masterpieces go to solve their problems and ask for help (Bar- of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Human- net, 2000; Wedel, 2004). This supreme divinity, ity” (UNESCO, 2008). which founded and governs the entire universe, The experts who make use of this system of consists of a trinity of Oloddumare, Olorun and divination and interpretation are the babalawos. Olofi. This has been compared to the Catholic “The wordbabalawo in its etymological sense is trinity, however different interpretations exist. derived from the Yoruba words: baba –father, One of these is that Olofi is the supreme be- la –have, awo –secrets, or the father who has the ing, placed above all other creatures of creation, secrets” (Betancourt, 2007, p. 2). The babalawos while Oloddumare is the sacred place where this play a highly important role in Santería, since divinity dwells, and where the spirits go when they embody the collective spirit of the commu- they have abandoned an earthly body. Olorun, nity and are guardians of the secrets of the uni- the third aspect of the trinity, is the sun. verse (Betancourt, 2007). The messages revealed The orishas are divinities who overlook through divination are the exclusive communi- mankind; they once lived in the world and expe- cation between Orula and the earthly world. It rienced the trials of daily life. Sacrifices are not was Olofi, Oloddumare and Olorun who created made directly to the supreme being; it is through the earth, but Orula is the only orisha who per- ceremonies, offerings and rituals to the orishas mits direct communication between this earthly that humans discover what we need, and are world and these figures of creation. As a result, taught how to live healthy, spiritual lives. he has, or is, the knowledge and intelligence that In Santería, communication with the dead govern human beings and triumph over all evil. and the orishas is essential. Believers establish He is the divine and wise figure who knows the relations of guidance and reciprocity with them, future of everyone and everything. It is Orula and seek to know their wishes, advice, and who is consulted through Ifá divination, and the warnings. Consequently, an important form of babalawos are the managers of this connection interaction between the santos and practitioners (Wedel, 2004). of Santería is the consultation of oracles. There As a consequence, babalawos have a privi- are three systems of divination and interpreta- leged place in the religious hierarchy. A babalawo tion: obi, diloggún and Ifá. Our research focused will be consulted in cases of ill-health, impotence on the oracle of Ifá, which is greatly respected or sterility, and also before a child is born and and regarded by practitioners of Santería and by again shortly after the birth, to ascertain the connoisseurs of the Yoruba tradition as the most child’s guardian spirit. Traditionally, when the comprehensive of the three, due to its great lit- newborn is a boy, it is the babalawo who deter- erary and symbolic content. Ifá is consultation mines whether circumcision should be carried with Orula, one of the most important orishas. out immediately or at the age of eighteen, as is Ifá divination is based on a corpus of po- traditional. The babalawo also officiates “when etic narratives, comprised of many oddun, sets a house is to be built, a field planted, a journey of proverbs, poems and stories that are the basis begun, a project undertaken, a marriage consid- for interpreting the situation of the person who ered” (Wyllie, 1970, p. 53). Today, the motives for

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a consultation are more likely to be money trou- practical skills of consultation and divination. bles, relationship problems, and so on. Consequently, it is of great interest to explore the Learning to perform Ifá divination requires psychological capabilities that such a person has a long process of preparation and learning (De developed and acquired in the course of their Souza, 2007). This begins once the individual professional training, and this is what we set out has been consecrated as a babalawo. Unlike the to do. Of central interest to us was the particular education that takes place in schools and univer- and specific constellations of psychological ca- sities, in Santería the title is awarded first, and pabilities that are needed to successfully use the only then does the process of learning begin system of Ifá divination. (Lorenzo, personal communication, March 20, 2010). The babalawo is guided by their padrino The Practice of Divination (godfather), and learns in the company of other “[T]here is a paucity of case-studies ahijados (godchildren). His path (all babalawos of Ifa in use” (Zeitlyn, 2001, p. 238) are male) is also guided by the book of Ifá, the secret text that contains knowledge about the Our focus in this paper is on the practice of universe, which he must commit to memory. divination, that is, the consultation itself: “The Through participating in the various ceremonies way in which adepts make a bridge between and consultations organized by the padrinos to- their own knowledge or intuitions about the cli- gether with other ahijados, using the book of Ifá, ent and the meanings of the [oracle]” (Zeitlyn, the expertize of a babalawo grows. 2001, p. 230). This, if anywhere, is where the ba- A babalawo will draw on this expertize in balawo makes evident his skills and expertize. It the registro, the activity of consulting the Ifá sys- is also where he makes evident the good life of tem of divination. During consultation with a Ifá, as he gives advice to the client. client, the babalawo has the task of obtaining an The day of the consultation, Lorenzo2 was odu, the sign which provides the basis for appro- waiting in the area of Bogotá known as Galerías. priate advice and instruction, by throwing the Lorenzo was 27 years old, born in Cuba, where ékuele, the tool of divination, which is made of he was consecrated as a babalawo seven years colored seeds threaded on a chain. The patterns earlier. He had studied at college, though his formed when the chain is thrown define sixteen education was interrupted when he moved to different signs, so that two throws generate 256 Colombia four years previously. He obtained combinations. This system of divination has at- his income from his work as a babalawo, and he tracted scholarly attention in large part due to was now the padrino of several members of the its binary organization, which reflects a cosmo- Santería community in Bogotá. After introduc- vision based on a metaphysical dualism. Each tions and an explanation of the research, Lo- sign has its own teaching, recorded in the sacred renzo led the way to a small room in his house, text. The babalawo must apply this teaching to used exclusively for consultations, where his in- the client’s specific case, taking into account the struments were laid out, among small altars to particularities of their situation. He offers the the orishas. There he sat at a desk and, making client a recital of the relevant portions of the use of the instruments, began a series of prayers text, including instructions for sacrifice, poetic or moyubas in Yoruba to start receiving mes- incantations, and illustrative narratives. sages or oddun. He permitted recording only of All this suggests that a babalawo is a per- that part of the consulation which consisted of son of skill and responsibility, one who has mas- tered a body of traditional learning and also the 2 A pseudonym.

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Transcript 1 Excerpt from the Consultation

90 B Let me ask a little question. You live in a aparte-studio... in an apartment, with 91 other people. What person wears your clothing? 92 C Yes. Sometimes my cousin or my sister uses them 93 B Orula says not to lend your clothes any more, because that is stealing your luck. 94 That the person who wears someone’s clothes steals their astral, steals their luck. 95 If not, make an observation yourself, of how your cousin lives and how you live. 96 She’s all happy, all content, and you’re not. That is how someone’s luck, stability, 97 leaves them. Because [when] one lends their astral, although one washes it 100 98 times, it takes holds of the astral of the other person as well, and if it’s a negative 99 astral, it also includes one. We, the religious, don’t loan our clothing, we don’t 100 bathe with the same towel or the same soap. We don’t loan underwear, socks, 101 shoes, anything. Because that is one’s personal things and that takes hold of 102 your astral. Nor wear the clothes of another person. 103 C [Indicates agreement] 104 B Orula says they speak the Eggun Obini, this is the head of the Eggun Obini. What 105 does this mean? It is like the king of the people who have died and are women. 106 Let me ask you a little question. Is your grandmother on your mother’s side alive?

the delivery of messages from the orishas, his the organization of argumentation behind the interpretation of their relevance, and occasion- specific advice that is offered in this excerpt. al questions that helped him in this objective. It is this phase of the consultation on which we Long Turns, Short Replies base our observations in this paper. The first of the features of the interaction in this excerpt that becomes evident is the charac- Analysis and Results ter of its turn-taking organization (Sacks et al., “The relationship of client and diviner 1974). The organization of turns in this exchange, makes dialogue central to any adequate ac- as in the consultation as a whole, is such that the count of divination.“ (Zeitlyn, 2001, p. 237). client’s moves are “preallocated”: they take only a few forms, mainly responses to questions, and We have selected for detailed analysis here they are generally short. One might suppose, one short excerpt from the session of divination then, that the babalawo’s turns are largely devot- (Transcript 1), which lasted a total of 90 min- ed to the asking of questions. But in fact, and in utes. Our discussion of this excerpt is organized contrast to those of his client, his turns are much in terms of a series of discursive features which less restricted. He does ask questions, certainly, are evident in it. We will describe the character but he also gives advice, tells stories, draws in- of the turn organization, the presence and prag- ferences, makes assertions. His turns are much matics of reported speech, the way the babalawo longer than the client’s, and they are much less (B) “reads” his client (C), and the orientation of restricted than those of, say, a lawyer question- their interaction towards the offering and re- ing a witness in a courtroom (where statements ceipt of advice. We then discuss in some detail are not permitted).

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In these respects the interaction resembles is largely in his hands; it is he who closes the others that are characteristic of “institutional” interaction, for example. It is he who shifts the discourse (such as news interviews, courtrooms, topic from reading the signs, to telling the for- classrooms, doctors’ offices) in which one party tune, to determining the offerings to be made. questions the other, rather than “ordinary talk.” The terminology is specific to Ifá. And the epis- Institutional talk will “embody orientations temology is indeed asymmetrical: it is he who which are specifically institutional or which are, knows. Below we explore in more detail how he at the least, responsive to constraints which are works to display his knowledge. institutional in character or origin” (Heritage, 1998, p. 6). Such talk generally has the following Reported Speech characteristics: the interaction involves goals tied One might assume that the divination is to institution-relevant identities; it involves spe- an interaction between two participants, the ba- cial constraints on what is an allowable contri- balawo and the client, but in actuality there is a bution; it will involve special inferences that are three-way conversation. It is indeed the case that particular to specific contexts (Heritage, 2005). “In examining the process of divination, we must We see each of these characteristics in the consider the multivalent and hence multivocal consultation and, indeed, in this excerpt. We relationship between divination technique and have already mentioned the differential con- diviner as well as between diviner and client” straints on the moves made by the two partici- (Zeitlyn, 2001, p. 237). This three-way character pants, babalawo and client, which are clearly is evident in the frequent appearance of reported visible in the different lengths of the turns, and speech. “Reported speech is speech within speech, the question-answer alternation. Later we will utterances within utterances, and at the same time focus in detail on the “special inferences” that also speech about speech, utterances about utter- are being made. That leaves the institution-rel- ances” (Voloshinov, 1929, p. 115). We observe many evant identities: in terms of these we can see the utterances in which the babalawo speaks for, or on babalawo characterizing his own identity -“we, behalf of, another person, generally one of the od- the religious”- in order to articulate the goal of dun. For example, in this excerpt he says, “Orula maintaining ones “astral” in the face of attempts says not to lend your clothes any more.” by others to “take hold” of it or “steal” it. He also The use of reported speech conveys that characterizes his interlocutor as recipient of ad- the babalawo is a relayer of information, not vice. The interaction as a whole can be seen as its source. What we generally see, and what we one in which the goal of the babalawo is to diag- see here, is not quoted speech, but speech that nose and offer advice, while that of the client is is glossed. The babalawo does not say “Orula to obtain guidance. said, ‘Call your mother’,” but “Orule said that Several domains of interactional phenom- you should call your mother.” The distinction ena are considered relevant to institutional may seem small, but it is significant. It is what interaction (Drew & Heritage, 1992; Heritage, Voloshinov (1929) refers to as a transposition 1998): turn-taking organization, overall struc- from “the sphere of speech construction to the tural organization of the interaction, sequence thematic level” (p. 116). The glossed speech is organization, turn design, lexical choice, and still detectable as a “foreign” element, as a con- epistemological and other forms of asymme- tribution from a third party, which the babalawo try. In addition to the strikingly asymmetric relays. At the same time, in glossing rather than turn-taking, topic control in the consultation is quoting, the babalawo displays himself as actively managed entirely by the babalawo. Turn design reporting the source’s speech or message.

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Reported speech is treated by both speaker cord. What is this? This is part of a ring of astral and recipient as belonging to a third party. This protection.” The “What is this?” serves here as a treatment lends weight to the supposition that turn taken on behalf of the client. One conse- the third party actually exists, albeit in a distinct quence is that although, as described above, the existential modality (fictional, or dead, or tran- client’s turns are largely preallocated as replies scendental). The reporting of the oddun, and me- to questions, with this device the babalawo ef- diatedly of Orula, also demonstrably takes into fectively raises questions on the client’s behalf. account the client as third-person recipient. The In doing so, he voices her unspoken doubts and report is evidently designed for her reception. uncertainties. The effect of this “ventriloquism” In the excerpt, what Orula is reported as saying is to imply, to create the impression, that he can is put in the second person: “not to lend your anticipate her queries, her confusion or skep- clothes,” not “one should not lend one’s clothes.” ticism -or, to put it another way, that he can A distinction has been drawn between two read her mind. Tis kind of reported speech attitudes to the boundary markers between au- displays the babalawo’s reception of his client’s thorial and reported speech, and between two concerns. He displays his sensitivity to issues corresponding analytical strategies (Clark & that are unspoken. Indirect speech is “analytical Holquist, 1984). The first attitude is “linear.” It at- transmission of someone’s speech”- “an analy- tempts to maintain the integrity and authenticity sis simultaneous with and inseparable from of the reported speech, and places clear, hard- transmission” (Voloshinov, 1929, p. 128). What edged boundaries between it and the authorial was form, the emotive-affective features, must speech. (This is what we do when we quote from become content. the transcript.) The strategy here is that of em- We see here that divination is not only about phasizing reference. Meaning is dissected into anticipating the future, it is also about intuiting, constituent, ideational referential units, and em- understanding, the past and the present. We wit- phasis is placed on the meaning of the utterance, ness in this characteristic of the discourse the not matters such as its style. display to the client of a preternatural -uncom- The second attitude is “pictorial.” This ap- mon, even unaccountable- understanding of proach infiltrates the reported speech with edi- her thoughts and feelings. This is also evident in torial retort and commentary. It dissolves and the next characteristic feature of the interaction. obliterates the boundaries between the two. The strategy here is that of emphasizing texture; this Reading the Client approach particularizes the reported words, but We have noted that many of the client’s shades them with the author’s attitude. What we turns are responses to questions, and it is strik- see in the case of the babalawo’s reported speech ing that many of these questions are ones that is this second strategy. As a consequence, in oc- would more usually follow a presequence. For casions of reported speech the babalawo gener- example, the question “What person wears ally displays his orientation to the message he is your clothing?” might be expected to follow a reporting, and his orientation to the oracle. presequence such as “Does someone wear your There is also another kind of reported clothing?” “Yes.” In other words, such questions speech, though it does not occur in the excerpt presume a prior acquisition of information that we have selected here. This is when the babalawo has not in fact taken place. The babalawo’s ques- reports -or appears to report- speech by the tion presumes that someone has indeed been other participant, the client. For example, at one wearing the client’s clothes, and proceeds from point he says, “This Gypsy comes in the spiritual there to inquire as to the identity of that person.

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Such questions without presequences appear re- Oriented towards Advice peatedly during the consultation. Much of the babalawo’s talk takes the form In this excerpt we also see assertions which of advice, recommendations, and obligations for appear to rest upon prior knowledge of the cli- the future conduct of the client. What she has ent which has not in fact been provided. The ba- to do, or ought to do, includes “go to the church balawo begins with “You live in a aparte-studio... and make mass for you deceased relatives,” “look in an apartment, with other people.” The consul- after your mother, by phone,” “arrange a sacri- tation was our first contact with Lorenzo, and fice,” “pray,” “wear your hair loose,” and so on. In he had been told nothing of our living circum- the excerpt we are focusing on, the advice is to stances. Similarly, when he says “She’s all happy, stop lending her clothes. all content…” this is also something that had not It is worth considering in detail the way this been talked about. advice is offered. In the terminology of Toulmin, There are at least two ways of interpret- Rieke and Janik’s (1974) analysis of argument, ing such questions and assertions that presup- the central claim is “not to lend your clothes any pose prior interactional work that has not in more” (Line 93). Backing is offered in the form of fact been done. One is to see them as a strategy an appeal (through reported speech) to the au- of “cold reading” the client. “‘Cold reading’ is thority of Orula (“Orula says…” (Line 93)), and a procedure by which a ‘reader’ is able to per- immediately a warrant is added: “because that suade a client, whom he has never before met, is stealing your luck” (we have translated suerte that he knows all about the client’s personality as “luck,” but it could equally be “fate”). This and problems” (Hyman, 1977, p. 2). Cold read- warrant is then clarified in the form of a further ing can take the form of offering highly gen- claim: “The person who wears someone’s clothes eral assertions that can fit any individual, or steals their astral, steals their luck” (Line 94). of asking questions which appear to presume The babalawo then recommends to the client prior knowledge. On the face of it this is a risky that she make her own observation; if she does strategy, but if it pays off it provides handsome so, she will see that her cousin who, he asserts, benefits, because the inference would be that on occasion uses her clothes, is happy, content, the babalawo has knowledge that only the spir- while she, the client, is not (Lines 95-96). This is itually-informed could have. presented as empirical backing that supports the The second way of interpreting these as- warrant for Orula’s claim: due to the fact that her sertions and questions is that the babalawo is cousin has worn her clothes, the client’s astral reading the client in a different way: reading has been stolen. The consequence of this is that her demeanor, her attitude, attending carefully the client is unhappy, while her cousin is happy. to such things as the state of her clothing, her It also counters a possible rebuttal: the “If not…” facial expressions, the color of her skin, and so can be glossed as “If you don’t believe what I on. This would be to attribute to him a honed am telling you, consider this….” The babalawo intuitive ability to attend to what is not explic- then provides a qualification: “because…” even itly spoken, and so is not evident in a transcript though one might wash ones clothes a hundred of the consultation. Certainly, in either case, the times, the astral of the person who wore them effect of such questions and assertions is to dis- cannot be removed (Lines 97-99). This serves to play knowledge of the client that has a somewhat counter a possible rebuttal that the loss of one’s mysterious quality; an intuitive understanding astral might be prevented by the simple expedi- of the client’s past and present circumstances ent of washing the clothes that have been bor- and concerns. rowed. Then he adds what could be taken as

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further backing to the validity of the warrant incites his client to think carefully about what underlying the central claim, in the form of an will happen if she does not change her conduct, appeal to his authority, or a confirmation that he and to anticipate what might happen if she does. himself lives by the advice he is offering to her He invites her to make plans accordingly. Lévy- (and so a qualification to an anticipated rebuttal Bruhl (1910/1925) insisted that there is no place that the claim should also apply to him): “We, in primitive mentality for reasoning, or even for the religious, don’t loan our clothing…” (Line reasons: “The mind of the ‘primitive’ has hardly 99). Nor do they do the reciprocal: they don’t any room for such questions as ‘how’ or ‘why?’” “wear the clothes of another person” (Line 102), (p. 25). However, we have seen that the babalawo, this countering the possible rebuttal that if the explaining to his client what she must do, makes effect works one way, it ought to work in the op- detailed and careful use of considerations of how posite direction. He adds a further qualification; and why. He explains why one must not share not only clothing should not be shared, but also one’s clothing. He provides a detailed explana- shoes, towels, soap (Line 100). tion, one that is rational insofar as the claim is clearly stated, it appeals to empirical data, it is Discussion grounded in warrants, and it is given backing. We have seen that the consultation was an The passage, then, has a complex argumen- interaction with characteristics of institutional tative organization. The argument is a power- discourse. If the consultation was an institution, ful one, however, not simply in consequence of we would expect to find in it evidence of “insti- its form. In addition, and despite its seemingly tutional facts,” of occasions where “X counts as mundane topic, it deals with powerful and im- Y” (Searle, 2006). Every institution defines its portant issues, ones which Vygotsky also recog- own reality, and those who enter have to grasp nized. Central to his account of ontogenesis is it. In the excerpt that we have analyzed, one clear the claim that the child is not an individual who example of an institutional fact is the astral. This needs to be socialized, but a thoroughly social entity is part of a local ontology, the ontology of being who needs to be individualized (Vygotsky, Ifá divination, which, not surprisingly, is distinct 1987). The advice to stop sharing one’s clothes from that of, for example, Western science. The is, on a small scale, a recommendation to asset ontology is established on the basis of evidence one’s individuality, to become increasingly dif- that is “documentary” in Garfinkel’s sense: The ferentiated, increasingly “self-ful.” Vygotsky also loss of an astral is documented by the unhappi- emphasized that human freedom consists in the ness and ill-health of its owner, for example. recognition of necessity, and part of this neces- Within this unfamiliar ontology, the episte- sity is the fact that we cannot directly control our mology —the reasoning and argument— has fea- behavior or thought -we can do so only through tures that we can nonetheless recognize: Logical mediation, through indirect means. The person inference; appeal to empirical observation; de- who seeks consultation and divination needs ad- feasible claims. Lévy-Bruhl (1922/1923) suggested vice regarding some difficult choice or decision that the primitive would turn to divination, be- in their life. They may face a choice between un- cause “[t]o calculate the chances carefully and palatable alternatives; they may simply not know systematically, and try to think out what will hap- what to do in the face of some problem or trou- pen, and make plans accordingly, is hardly the way ble. They have lost the ability to freely choose. in which primitive mentality proceeds” (p. 159). The essence of luck might be said to be having He saw divination as an alternative to careful meaningful choices among what are seen to be thinking. Yet we have seen that the babalawo viable courses of action. In the absence of such

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choices, a person’s luck has been stolen. Once wisdom it contains it likely to have some value. meaningful choices become evident again, the Far from determining the client’s course of ac- person begins to have new powers and possibili- tion —making the choice for her— the emphasis ties. If someone close to us is taking advantage in this consultation seems to have been to en- of us in a way that reduces our individuality courage her to make her own thoughtful choices. and our ability to make choices, then follow- Vygotsky considered the divinatory dream- ing Orula’s advice may indeed help us get our ing of a Kaffir to be an example of the hierarchy luck back. Starting to say “no” to those who take among the higher psychological functions, but advantage of us can enable us to start making still a long way from modern reasoning. How- more important choices. In his extended turn at ever, most modern Westerners today still live in this point in the consultation (and elsewhere as a world of the unseen: of God, electrons, nuclear well) the babalawo displays his understanding reactions, and much more. A select few —our of the truly human nature of luck, of fate. His wise men and women— have the ability to in- argument is potent because it is about people fluence these and in a special way to see them. empowering themselves through active choices But for the rest of us they are mysterious enti- of their own making. This is the kind of infer- ties that guide our destinies, or light our houses, ence that appears to characterize the divination or threaten our existence. Lest we assume that as institution. those of us in the Occidental world practice only scientific thinking, and that divination is to be Conclusions found only in premodern societies, in backward, “Wherever a theory of divination has been primitive cultures, remember that in May of 2011 elicited directly from diviners in their native a large number of people in the United States language, we find a clear recognition of induc- were sufficiently convinced by Harold Camp- tive, intuitive and interpretative techniques ing’s prophesies of the end of the world that they and ways of knowing” (Tedlock, 2001, p. 193). sold their worldly goods in preparation for their transportation to the hereafter. And how many of In this article we have simply tried to study us have purchased a lottery ticket based on our with some care and attention to detail the prac- favorite number, or our birthdate? Or tried to tice of divination, in order to see whether or not predict the outcome of games of chance? “What it suffered from the limitations and inadequacies is clear in most reports of North American games that both Lévy-Bruhl and Vygotsky attributed of chance is that the activity, even when it had to it. Neither of them witnessed divination first crossed the line and become a pastime, was still hand, as far as we can tell; they relied on oth- heavily related to genuine forms of divination” ers’ reports of field work. On the basis of our (Csikszentmihalyi & Bennett, 1971, p. 47). And analysis, we cannot accept the suggestion that let us not forget that it was the illustrious Carl divination works because it does not work –that Jung (1950/1971) who wrote the introduction to it is no more than tossing an unbiased coin. Ifá the translation of the I Ching, the ancient Chi- divination is more than tossing shells; it is also nese book of divination. Jung believed in what he the whole book of accumulated and condensed called synchronicity, or meaningful coincidence, wisdom about how to live, plus the babalawo’s and there are Jungian analysts today who use expertise in seeing what may be amiss in some- Tarot cards as part of their clinical practice. one’s life. Perhaps the selection of a particular Furthermore, the reasoning that Lévy- portion of the text is random (though an open Bruhl judged irrational was being demonstrated mind is appropriate here), but whatever piece of in the context of interrogations by people who

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had colonized, oppressed, and often enslaved We have proposed that this advice is offered and killed those they were talking to. Bonfil in the form of reasoned argument, with clearly (1987), writing of the treatment of indigenous stated claims, warrants and grounding. If we are peoples in the Americas, has noted how correct in this interpretation, divination appears a system of cultural control was put into effect not to preclude logical reasoning or empirical through which the decision-making capacities observation. Psychologists are inclined to view of the colonized peoples were limited. Their reasoning as a solitary and cognitive process. It control over various cultural elements was pro- can be, but reasoning can also be a social, con- gressively wrenched away, as it benefited the textualized activity. A babalawo does not simply self-interest of the colonizers in each historical consult the oracle and dictate a course of action. period (pp. 67-68). He must reason with the client, relating what is in the signs to events in her life, to her concerns In such circumstances it would hardly be and the reasons she chose to consult him in the surprising if such peoples were to show little first place. He must justify the course of action interest in the topics that Western researchers spoken by Orula, anticipate possible objections, tried to get them to reason about. Psychologists and provide both logical and empirical ground- sensitive to such effects have abandoned the use ing for his claim about its worth. Our analysis of standard tests and tasks for just these reasons suggests that the babalawo is guiding his client (Cole, 1995). in what amounts to a process of constitution, of In this article we have focused on an oc- self-mastery. This divination consultation is an casion of Ifá divination because of the impor- occasion of ontological work, of the social be- tance of seeing the capabilities of a babalawo in coming individual, of techniques for care of the practice. We have identified several features of self. We have picked only the most mundane ep- the interaction between client and babalawo: an isode from this consultation, because much of it institutional discourse with long turns and short dealt with very personal matters. But even here, replies; frequent reported speech, glossed rather we can see sophisticated psychological abilities than quoted, pictorial rather than linear; read- at work. It is difficult, if not impossible, to pick ing the client, with assertions and questions that apart the different psychological functions, but presume prior knowledge; predictions, prophe- surely memory for the text, perception of the cli- sies, and the giving of advice. The turn-taking is ent’s character, attention to the details of the or- that of institutional discourse: The client’s turns acle, are all involved. And, surely, reasoning at a are preallocated, while the babalawo’s turns are high level. It is impossible to say that this divina- less restricted. The goals of the consultation and tion takes place with no attention to how or why. the institution-relevant identities of the par- The babalawo recommends a new way for his ticipants are evident here. The reported speech client to see her situation and make new choices. displays the babalawo’s reception of his client’s The courses of action he proposes amount to in- concerns and his sensitivity to issues that are as structions in how to be more healthy, more wise, yet unspoken. Questions that appear to presume more spiritual. How to be. prior knowledge establish and maintain an at- mosphere of mystique and expertize. Finally, References advice is offered that is grounded in the specifics Barnet, M. (2000). La regla de Ocha: The religious of the client’s situation and in the accumulated system of Santería. In M. Fernández & L. Para- wisdom of the book of Ifá. visini-Gebert (Eds.), Sacred possessions: Vodou,

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revista colombiana de psicología vol. 21 no. 2 july-December 2012 issn 0121-5469 bogotá colombia - pp. 353-371