Shells that Speak: Divination and Its Author

Abstract: In Senegalese and other West African divination systems, it is not the diviner, but the divination system itself, that is considered the author of divinatory enunciation. This article traces the externalizing terminology used in Mandinka to refer to the source of divinatory authority and explores the significance of emic perspective within the larger ritual process. The question of the origin or source of the messages embedded in divinatory procedures is easily overlooked by anthropologists when experiencing the complexity of divinatory ritual systems, despite the fact that it concerns one of divination’s most characteristic features. By comparing Mandinka divination with other divinatory traditions, I highlight divinatory authorship and authority as important features of the larger category of divination rituals and their linguistic properties.