(unattributed)
1996 Healers of Ghana. Princeton, NJ: Films for the Humanities and Sciences.
Notes: VHS color; 58 minutesReviewed 28 Aug 2004 by:
Raymond A. Bucko <bucko@creighton.edu>
Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska, USAMedium: Film/Video Subject
Keywords:
ABSTRACT: This film examines the traditional religious and healing practices of the peoples of Techiman, a culturally diverse rural area of Ghana. The focus is on the Bono people, their traditional religious beliefs as manifested through healing practices, and on recent accommodations to Western medical practices. Note: the film is dated (1993) and does not refer to the AIDS pandemic.
Healers of Ghana covers a variety of anthropological topics: religion, medicine, cultural adaptation, economics, gender roles, colonialism, health and ritual performance. Filmed in the Techiman region of Central Ghana and focusing on the Anakn-speaking Bono, the documentary is primarily narrated by indigenous and expatriate Ghaneans.While some Bono practice forms of Christianity and Islam, they primarily adhere to traditional religious practices that center on a single deity who communicates with humans through a variety of powerful spirits. Various narrators explain the key elements in the practice of Bono healing religion such as maintaining shrines to certain spirits and the processes of ritual possession by these same spirits while dancing with their shrines held on their heads. Illness is attributed to either physical or metaphysical causes; thus, the society has two types of healers: herbalists (who treat physical causes) and witch catchers (who determine who is causing the patient harm and how to counteract malice). Traditional healers are usually the first recourse when the Bono fall ill, and physicians interviewed in the film testify that the indigenous medical system is more successful in setting bones and dealing with psychological disturbances.
Having laid out the social, physical and spiritual groundings of Bono belief, the film documents the status of western medicine in Ghana--a system that simply cannot serve the entire nation, due to poverty, high population, and large territories. Thus, doctors trained in western medicine find it useful to work with traditional healers, educating them in proper nutrition and other preventative strategies. This accommodation extends their own influence and validates the prestige of the traditional healers.
The film's strength is its visual and narrative presentation of Bono culture, demonstrating the aesthetic elements of ritualized spirit possession and curing rituals. Its premise (western medicine is strengthened when it cooperates with traditional cures) is nothing new--standard medical anthropological analysis. Neither is there any groundbreaking social analysis of the way religion and ritual provide answers and recourse in a mysterious and often random world. Ultimately, however, the film has enduring value for its visual/aural presentation of Bono culture in a way that books and still photography cannot match.
From today's vantage, the lack of HIV-AIDS coverage is amazing, since the disease was well-established worldwide by the time this 1993 film was shot (see avert.orgÆs History of AIDS 1). (Films for the Humanities went on to produce a 2000 film on AIDS in Africa 2 that is more current than the film under review, and Healers of Ghana can be supplemented by information on several websites about Ghana such as Ghana.co.uk 3 and Home Page Ghana 4. Home Page Ghana has an article on AIDS in Ghana 5 dated March 2, 2004 as well as a section on health 6. The Indigenous Knowledge and Development Monitor 7 has a review of this film.) Professors using this film today might point out to students that it demonstrates an historical and international lack of consciousness that AIDS was a spreading problem in the mid-1990, not a deliberate evasion by the filmmakers. They can also use the film to contextualize the contemporary health crisis in Africa, allowing students to explore the interrelation of tradition and western medicine as an important strategy to address the massive threat of AIDS in Africa.
1. History of AIDS - http://www.avert.org/historyi.htm
2. AIDS in Africa - http://www.films.com/Films_Home/item.cfm?s=1&bin=10988
3. Ghana.co.uk - http://www.ghana.co.uk/index.asp
4. Home Page Ghana - http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/
5. AIDS in Ghana - http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=53037
6. section on health http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/health/
7. The Indigenous Knowledge and Development Monitor - http://www.nuffic.nl/ciran/ikdm/8-3/videos.html
To cite this review, the American Anthropological Association recommends the following style:
Bucko, Raymond A.
2004 Review of Healers of Ghana. Anthropology Review Database. August 28. Electronic document, http://wings.buffalo.edu/ARD/cgi/showme.cgi?keycode=1500, accessed February 10, 2010.© Anthropology Review Database
(available online: http://wings.buffalo.edu/ARD/)