Traditional healers in rural Hausaland

✍ Scribed by R. Stock

• Book ID: 104657501
• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 1981
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 598 KB
• Volume: 5
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0343-2521
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00191150

✦ Synopsis

Hausa communities in Nigeria are served by several distinct types of traditional healers. Practitioners who utilize various secular or technical approaches in healing may be distinguished from those who claim the ability to mobilize some spiritual or supernatural force for healing purposes. Hausa healers may be either sedentary or mobile, the latter following a regular circuit within a periodic market system, or moving randomly from village to village.

The paper provides a description of the practice of medicine by the major categories of Hausa healers. Alternate sources of medicine, both traditional and Western, are listed. In conclusion, the future role of traditional healers in Hausland is briefly discussed.