mediums generally control exchanges between their settlements and
the outside world. With their specialization comes an ambiguous rep-
utation, as many people suspect them of gaining power and influence
through witchcraft. Even this seems to work to their advantage, as
people in a Taubuid settlement would not want to get on the wrong
side of a dispute with the mediums. There is little difference between
Buid and Taubuid, as far as religious concepts are concerned. The
Taubuid are simply more representative of a very common process.
Once a difference in ability is detected or imagined, it leads to a mini-
mal division of labor, where people are called upon in particular con-
[272] texts. It is only a matter of opportunity for these people to accrue
additional benefits on the basis of that reputation and thereby create a
rudimentary religious specialization.
In such contexts, the people who are supposed to take a special
position in dealings with supernatural agents are represented as having
a particular but invisible quality that sets them apart from others. In
some cases this is said to be inherited, in other cases acquired through
disease or accident or some other equally dramatic experience, or con-
ferred by the gods or spirits. But in all these cases the special quality of
specialists is internal, difficult to detect, and the performance of rituals
and other such religious actions is only an index that the quality really
is there. That is, one does not become a shaman or healer by being
told to perform the rituals and being reasonably efficient at it. In peo-
ple's conceptions, one probably has that specific quality that makes
such rituals efficacious.
Another general characteristic of such specialists is that their
authority or authenticity is locallyguaranteed. In the case of lineage
priests this is a matter of course, since the religious activities they
supervise or conduct are relevant only to their own group. In the case
of shamans, healers, diviners, one either knows them personally or
knows some of their past customers. So the specialists' claim to a spe-
cific role in dealing with superhuman agents only depends on their
position or reputation in a given group. This is why it is quite natural
for most people to think that such specialists generally interact with
supernatural agents who are local too: the group's ancestors, some
local demons or some spirits who own a particular territory, control a
particular animal species or reside in a particular place.
The Fang know that there are many ngengangand they also know
that each of them has his particular technique and cooperates with
particular spirits. It makes perfect sense to resort to one ngengang's
RELIGION EXPLAINED