article
The sanctions of Ifa divination
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland • 71 • Published In 1941 • Pages: 43-54
By: Bascom, William Russell.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This document presents an analysis of the Ifa method of divination as practiced among the Yoruba, especially in the town of Ife where the author did his field study. The article is concerned primarily with explaining the factors in the system of divination which permit the Yoruba to maintain confidence in the predictions of the diviners in spite of what would appear as illogical methods to many non-Yoruba observers. The author illustrates his analysis with numerous cases, both in contemporary practice and as cited from mythology by the diviners themselves. The presentation is thorough, clearly stated, and valuable as an approach which might well be applied to similar practices in other societies. Bascom was an anthropologist at the University of California, Berkeley.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Revelation and divination
- Prayers and sacrifices
- Mythology
- Verbal arts
- Philosophy
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Yoruba
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2009
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Africa
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Western Africa
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- George R. Bedell ; 1959
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1937-1938
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1930-1938
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Nigeria
- NotesAdditional notes
- William R. Bascom
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 54B)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- unk82052056
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Yoruba (African people)