Analysis of the Book of Water and Spirit

The following book review will concentrate on Malidoma Patrice Some’s book, Of water and blood: ceremony, sorcery, and initiation in the life of an African Shaman. According to the cover, the book is something like a memo from Malidoma since it reveals the author’s story based on his own account. The author’s name is also important in the telling of his story in the novel. The word “Malidoma” translates to “friendship with the stranger or adversary.” Typically, the name depicts the relationship between the Africans and the White colonizers and how the Africans quickly accepted and adopted the new faith brought by the missionaries as well as entrusting their children to them. Malidoma was born in 1956 in a Dagara village which was under the French colonial rule in the Upper Volta, West Africa. At the age of four, Malidoma was forcefully taken to a Jesuit school where he was imprisoned in a seminary which was built for purposes of training a new generation of black Catholic priests. He was in a state of isolation from his people and his community for fifteen years. However, he was stubborn, and he did not forget about his people and his African rots despite the vigorous training. After spending over fifteen years in the seminary, Malidoma escaped and embarked on a journey 125 kilometers through the jungle to his own people. However, despite his willingness to join his own people, he was treated with suspicion and regarded as a “white black” who had been contaminated by the influences of the colonial world. In an attempt to reconnect with his people, Malidoma decided to undergo a harrowing Dagara initiation in the wilderness which took an entire month. According to him, the ritual was critical because he emerged from it a more integrated individual and was able to reconnect his ancestral past with his cultural present. The book is more or less of an attempt to help the world to view humanity as a common aspect that can help all the people to view the world as a global village as see the strangers/enemies as friends in some way.

Author

Malidoma understands both the African and the white (French) rituals based on events in his life as a child as well as his cultural background. He spent the whole of his childhood and part of his teenage years in the seminar where he had been abducted. He, therefore, has a clear understanding of the colonial way of life since the White missionaries were training Malidoma and others to be a new generation of black priests. Unlike most his people, Malidoma understood the French activities in Africa.

Others who knew a little about the military culture, imperialism, and colonialism thought that the white man must have destroyed his own land and have to come here and take the land of others. In spite of the best efforts of all my people, the whites kept on coming; kept on doing whatever they pleased; and kept on taking more and more of our land, out beliefs and our lives (Somé, 1994, p. 3).

Malidoma’s description of the how his people viewed the whites shows how misinformed they were about the white culture. However, having been brought up in the seminar by the whites, he had a better understanding of the reasons behind the white’s coming to Africa. In terms of the African culture, despite having spent his childhood life learning about the white culture, Malidoma still had a clear understanding of his own culture. His only reason to undergo the rite of passage which was the culture of his people was to gain their trust and accept him back. However, the fact that he did not grow up experiencing the problems which his people had in the hands of the colonizers for the fifteen years, Malidoma’s view could be biased and may not necessarily represent the views of the people who had rough experiences with the colonizers.

Summary

Malidoma’s book is non-fiction because it is based on his own life events. The book is more of his own account of life as well as initiation of both the White and the African cultures. The themes in the book are arranged in paragraphs systematically to show life events and the worldview of a Dagara man. One of the main ideas addressed by Malidoma in this book is the African art of separating the body and the spirit. According to the Dagara culture, a baby who is newly born into the community is not considered a new being which is the case in the Western culture and religion. Instead, the child isa only a being from another world who enters this world in the form of a human being to undertake a particular mission. This worldview also influences the reception he is accorded by his people after escaping from the seminar. He only returns physically but is only accepted spiritually after undergoing the traditional Dagara rituals. The other main ideas addressed by the book include initiation, colonialism, aspects of cultural and ethnic coexistence and forgiveness. Despite having been abducted by the Jesuit priests for 15 years and taken away from his own people, Malidoma bears no grudge against the whites. Also, Malidoma does not blame his people for the hatred they have against the whites who are consistently taking their land and culture away. His main objective is to integrate the two cultures and help each to see the good in the other.

Critical Analysis

The book is organized into chapters starting with an introduction whereby the author describes his childhood journey and how the Dagara people responded to the coming of the white people in Africa. In the introduction, Malidoma describes himself as a man of two worlds (Somé, 1994, p. 3). The other chapters mainly focus on colonialism and the resulting cultural clash between the Africans and the white colonialists. The thesis of the book also revolves around the culture, initiation, religion and colonialism. According to Malidoma, it is possible to integrate cultural and religious differences as human beings to create a global village in which all humans will be equal mainly by learning how to see a stranger as a friend. Malidoma also argues against demonizing one culture on favor of the other. Having lived in both worlds, Malidoma has an experience with each of the world view and can clearly see each worldview from the other. He understands the good and the bad in both the white and the African cultures.

The purpose of this book is both to inform and persuade. In terms of informing, the book has been written in a clear and coherent manner. The book is a master piece for anthropologists because it penetrates the worldview of the indigenous people. It provides information about both the white and the African cultures and beliefs from a neutral quarter who has lived in both. The book also criticizes and praises the coming of the white men in African in equal measure.

Europeans came into Africa for the purpose of bringing to fruition the immense wealth that had been kept dormant by the ignorance of the African people (Somé, 1994, p. 113).

Malidoma, however, argues against the coming of the whites:

I am suggesting that perhaps colonialism cannot be justified on the grounds that some people decided it was their right to disturb the quiet lives of others (Somé, 1994, p. 113).

The information provided is easier to comprehend because Malidoma uses simple language and is straight to the point. In addition, the information is chronologically arranged since the coming of the white man to Africa when he was a child to adulthood. This kind of chronology provides us with a timeline of events and how they occurred during the age of colonialism. Apart from information, the book is also persuasive in that it is trying to change the people’s views and perception towards foreign religious and cultural beliefs. Such a move would see an integrated world whereby no one will view their culture as superior to the others and all humans will be viewed as equal with no form of discrimination whatsoever. In order to achieve, this Malidoma starts by criticizing religious colonialism having been a victim of abduction by the Jesuit priests as a child in order to be trained to be a priest.

Religious colonialism tortures the soul. It creates an atmosphere of fear, uncertainty, and general suspicion. The worst thing is that it uses the local people to enforce itself (Somé, 1994, p. 95).

Therefore, as much as Malidoma is not opposed to some of the good activities which the whites engaged in while in Africa, he is against the fact that the whites deemed their religious beliefs to be superior compared to those practiced by the Africans and therefore they had to enforce to the people. The worst part is that the enforcement of these beliefs also involved the abduction of children in order to train them into priesthood. According to Malidoma, such method only contributed to ethnic mistrust and warfare.

Some of the effective and beneficial arguments made in the book include the issue of colonialism and how it enlightened and benefited the Africans in the long run. According to Malidoma, the civilization that came through colonialism and the western education was priceless in terms of re-awakening the African continent. People became aware of the economic benefits of the wealth and resources which were in abundance in Africa. Secondly, people also learned a lot about their rights and how different the cultures are as well as how these cultures can be integrated into creating global unity. Another valid argument made by the author is the importance of seeing strangers as friends by embracing their ways of life and seeing the good in their cultural and religious beliefs. At the same time, it is important to seek alternative ways to sell one’s cultural and religious beliefs without necessarily forcing it into people while demonizing their own beliefs.

While the book concentrates more on the cultural and religious integration and colonialism, it has not fully addressed the issues related to sexism and its results with the coming of the whites to Africa. The book does not provide a critical analysis on how women contributed towards the liberation of Africa from colonialists. The key solution offered by Malidoma in the book is to focus on seeing the good in strangers especially in terms of culture to spread global unity and integration.

The author uses a couple of imagery in the book. He says, ”the mouth that eats cannot be the mouth that talks” (Somé, 1994, p. 52) referring to the different roles which the missionaries and the colonialists played in Africa. The book is relevant in education especially among anthropologists as well as historians because it provides inner insights on colonialists’ activities in Africa.

Reaction

My first reaction after reading this book is that I was perplexed about especially on the cultural differences that exist between the whites and the Africans. In the book, Malidoma describes the Dagara initiation ceremony in fascinating details. In addition, he contrasts the culture sharply with the Western culture but manages to harmonize the two cultures. The theme that I resonated with in the book is the rich African culture which is also quite similar to my own cultural beliefs. In my own Bahamian culture, we don’t like to use American medicine or over the counter meds because we feel like that’s the trait of betrayal towards some of the gifted people that are the healer with plants and herbs. In this book, Malidoma states:

There are plants in nature that are very powerful. By using the plants, known by healers and men and women in touch with the great medicine of Mother Earth… (Somé, 1994, p. 52).

My emotions while reading this book swayed from horror to excitement to a state of anticipation. I could not fathom a four-year-old being abducted and separated from his parents at such an age. However, learning about his escape from the seminary and re-integration with his people was exciting. The new information which I acquired after reading this book is the kind of struggles both the Africans and the whites had in understanding each other’s culture. Malidoma has difficulties reconciling the two cultures.

If I come to your father’s house and I want to get in-even though your father does not want me as a guest-do, I force the door anyway (Somé, 1994, p. 113)?

After reading the book, I was able to view the world from a culturally informed position and appreciate other people’s cultural beliefs. I will employ the knowledge acquired from this book in how I treat my clients. Being culturally informed will be critically in embracing new cultures from new people with ease. The most effective methods that can be used for protest, as well as remembrance about the issues addressed in the book, is proposing new laws that will encourage fewer restrictions in terms of travel and immigration in order to allow people to learn as much as possible from foreign cultures. This will diffuse the notion of cultural superiority and inferiority (Heo, 2012). This is also a suitable solution to ethnic and racially motivated hate in the modern age. Despite the reading and critical analysis of the book, I still have a few unanswered questions regarding the author as well as some of the events that transpired during the period. For instance, how did the priests respond to Malidoma’s escape from the seminary? What impact did his escape have to both the seminary and the Dagara people?

Conclusion

The overall thesis of the paper revolved on an attempt to help the world view humanity as a common aspect that can help all the people to view the world as a global village as see the strangers/enemies as friends in some way. Through the themes explored and aspects of the book analyzed, it is clear that cultural integration among different ethnic groups of people is achievable. When viewing issues of oppression, inherent differences such as gender, race, and ethnicity play a significant role (Adams, Blumenfeld, Castaneda, Hackman, Peters, & Zuniga, 2000, p. 15). There are a few recommendations I would like to put across on how Malidoma’s work can be improved. First, the book should be improved to include the emerging issues in the international system such as rising powers and how such issues are likely to impact on the cultures from a global perspective. I would highly recommend this book to both the students and other professionals since it provides helpful insights to developing cultural competency. According to Asumah and Johnson-Anumonwo (2002), there is still significant racial differences especially in work travel patterns.

References

Adams, M., Blumenfeld, W., Castaneda, C., Hackman, H., Peters, M., & Zuniga, X. (2000). Readings for Diversity and Social Justice. Psychology Press.

Asumah, S., & Johnson-Anumonwo, I. (2002). Diversity, multiculturalism and social justice. Binghamton, N.Y. : Global Academic Pub., Binghamton Univ.

Heo, S. (2012). Reconciling enemy states in Europe and Asia. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire; New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

Somé, M. (1994). Of water and the spirit: ritual, magic, and initiation in the life of an African shaman. New York:: Penguin.