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Journal of Religion and Health
Published in: Journal of Religion and Health 2/2020

Open Access 01-04-2020 | Original Paper

Religion, Spirits, Human Agents and Healing: A Conceptual Understanding from a Sociocultural Study of Tehuledere Community, Northeastern Ethiopia

Authors: Mesfin Haile Kahissay, Teferi Gedif Fenta, Heather Boon

Published in: Journal of Religion and Health | Issue 2/2020

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Abstract

This paper explores the relationship among religion, spirits and healing in the Tehuledere community in the northeastern part of Ethiopia and focuses on how this knowledge can inform primary healthcare reform. The study employed qualitative ethnographic methods. Participatory observation, over a total of 5 months during the span of 1 year, was supplemented by focus group discussions (96 participants in 10 groups) and in-depth interviews (n = 20) conducted with key informants. Data were analyzed thematically using narrative strategies. The present study revealed that members of the study community perceive health, illness and healing as being given by God. Many of the Tehuledere people attribute illness to the wrath of supernatural forces. Healing is thought to be mitigated by divine assistance obtained through supplication and rituals and through the healing interventions of nature spirit actors. We found that the health, illnesses and healing were inextricably linked to religious and spiritual beliefs. Our findings suggest that religious and spiritual elements should be considered when drafting and implementing primary healthcare strategies for the study communities and similar environments and populations around the globe.
Footnotes
1
Ge’ez as a “consecrated” language has also been referred to as the “language of prophecy,” the “tongue of the Angels” and the “first language of Adam and Eve.”
 
2
Woliy are human agents in Islam that are believed to have the power bestowed upon them by Allah to heal the sickly.
 
3
Nature spirit, in Tehuledere, is the belief in qolle or quteb, wuqabi, mewokel, zar, buda and jinn spirits that is, venerating certain natural objects as sacred and the abode of spirits. Many natural objects were believed to be capable of mediating between the “supreme deity and the ordinary humans”. The ascription of misfortunes to natural objects pervaded by spirits seems to have been prevalent where by sicknesses, epidemic or contagious diseases and even death were explained in terms of punishment by enraged these spirits.
 
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Metadata
Title
Religion, Spirits, Human Agents and Healing: A Conceptual Understanding from a Sociocultural Study of Tehuledere Community, Northeastern Ethiopia
Authors
Mesfin Haile Kahissay
Teferi Gedif Fenta
Heather Boon
Publication date
01-04-2020
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Journal of Religion and Health / Issue 2/2020
Print ISSN: 0022-4197
Electronic ISSN: 1573-6571
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-018-0728-6

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