Of Water and the Spirit by Malidoma Patrice Somé Essay

With Of Water and Spirit Malidoma Patrice around has written a very interesting, engaging autobiography in which he details his carriage as a man living between two contrasting lifestyles the traditional life of his concourse, the Dagara, who live in rural Burkina Faso, the former french Colony known as the Upper Volta, and the life of a extremely educated African man with two PhDs who travels throughout the western nations writing, lecturing, and educational activity nearly his people and their relationship between the normal world and the savor world.According to or so his first name Malidoma means be friends with the stranger/enemy. The Dagara believe a persons name has an affect on the his life so they name their children something that will always remind them of their legation in life. approximately, then, is here in the West to tell the world about my people any way I can, and to take posteriorward to my people the knowledge I gain about this world (Some 1994, 1 ). Some was named Patrice when he was baptized by Jesuit priests at the insistence of his father who had converted to Catholicism.The attitude of Some and the Dagara people is very interesting. Instead of feeling abuse over once against the etiolated men who had colonized the country and basically enslaved the people patch stealing their land and resources, the Dagara are concerned about all people, including the whitened people and are convinced that the West is as endangered as the indigenous cultures it has decimated in the name of colonialism (Some 1994, 1). They believe that western cultures abandonment of operating(a) spiritual values has made the West sick with a disease of the soul (Some 1994, 1).Some was basically kidnapped from his tribe at the age of quaternary when he was taken away(predicate) to study at the Jesuit school. At the term the Jesuits were trying create a native missionary force to help in converting the people of Upper Volta. Prior to being kid napped Some had spent much of his childhood with his gramps, a great leader of the Dagara. His grandfather taught him many of the stories of the Dagara people, their spiritual beliefs, and their history.Somes grandfather emphasized the culture spiritual relationship of the Dagara with the world, the land, and the spirits of their deceased ancestors. The Dagara believe there is an significant connection between an individual, his people, his land, and his god. Somes grandfather could not scan the Catholic Churchs attempts at missionary work throughout the world, . . . let me tell you that a God who would send his people away from their land must be drinking a very sound wine all the time (Some 1994, 29).At the time of his death, Somes grandfather told Some that the ancestors had designated Some to follow the white man so that you may serve as the eye of the compound, the ear of your many brothers, and the blab of your tribe (Some 1994, 40). Somes grandfather also told him that he came back to the tribe he would appear strange to the Dagara, he would only be part Dagara and would accommodate to undergo the month long initiation in the wilderness to become a member of the tribe. Somes time at the Jesuit school was unpleasant.The priests often beat him while they were program line him as if the beatings would reinforce the lessons and make him confirm to the Jesuit teachings. When he gradational to the seminary school at Nansi he had similar experiences and often found that he lived outside of himself. He would make his thoughts go away from my body so that when the first blow fell, I he was not even aware of it (Some 1994, 114). Some resented the way he was treated and found himself rebelling against the method of instruction.This rebellion reached its completion when Some was twenty and became involved in a physical fracas with one of the priests. During the struggle the priest fell through the window and come in the dirt outside. accordingly, Some r an away from the school to reach to his home. His tour home took him eleven days since he was forced to walk the integral way. Ironically, on his journey, Some learned that the country had gained its liberty from France in 1960 and such forced schooling had come to an end.Since Some was about four-years-old both when independence occurred and when he was taken away from his people to attend school, he could have returned to his people long before (Some 1994, 153 99-156). By the time he returned to his village, the Jesuit missionary priests on the hill were gone, although a day school be quiet existed. Once Some was in his home compound, he found he no longer fit it with his people. He had forgotten how to speak the words the village had changed with independence. His people were not comfortable with him there, nor was he comfortable with them.Consequently the elders decided he should undergo the Baor, the month long initiation, to quiet the white man in your soul . . . so that his soul would come back home and . . . stop being a stranger to yourself and to us (Some 1994, 178). Some describes his spiritual initiation in detail and tells how he was able to return to the Dagara. Once he had returned fully to the Dagara, Some found that he was again not comfortable living with his people because he had not still completed his mission that his grandfather had told him about and that his ancestors had assigned him.Once again it became necessary to leave his people so the he might be friends with the stranger/enemy. This is what Some continues to do today through his writings and lecturing. However, he is careful to return to his home every year to make accredited he reconnects with his home and people.BibliographySome, Malidoma Patrice. Of Water and the Spirit Ritual, Magic, and Initiation in the invigoration of an African Shaman. New York G. P. Putnams Sons, A Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam Book, 1994.