Postponement and Transfer of Death in Traditional Igbo Society: The Case of Ngwere Ishi Enwoo Among Nsukka People: A Historico-Philosophical Analysis.

Abstract

Traditional medical practice among the Igbo is not limited to therapeutic or curative role of healing the sick. It extends to exploration and manipulation of powers inherent in nature and material entities to achieve some ends. This is popularly known as ime ọgwụ (igwọ ọgwọ) in Igbo parlance. One of such manipulative function is the phenomenon of postponement or transfer of death from a patient to another individual without any direct or physical contact. The process raises serious philosophical concerns about causation as well as the ethical justification of the act. Employing simultaneously the empirical method, the philosophical methods of phenomenological analysis and hermeneutics, the present paper sets out to investigate the possibility of relating the cause with the effect in the phenomenon of postponement and porting of death from an individual to another. The paper explores the Igbo-African ontological understanding of realities as forces and mutual interaction of forces.