50 african appropriations
wife, the spirit saluted and offered me a seat, and then he made himself
comfortable in a huge cushioned chair at the far front of the room. His
English was a bit rusty but still impressive and surely reflected the educa-
tion his medium enjoyed at secondary school. A fter a short while, he asked
Isa’s wife to bring in the first clients. The scene played out as follows:
A woman and a young man enter. Mai ya’ki instructs them to sit down
on a mat spread on the floor at some distance from his chair. The woman
greets the spirit and I learn that she has visited him before. Her son, a lad
of about 14 and his bad habits are causing her problems. She explains that
he keeps bad company, smokes marihuana, and also enjoys gambling.
Despite the medicine she got from Mai ya’ki on her last visit, and despite
her sacrifice of a hen, her son’s behavior has not improved. Mai ya’ki
listens to her complaints, smiles mischievously, and finally orders the
boy to come forward and sit down on the floor in front of him. The boy
hesitates and casts his eyes downwards. Asked by the spirit if his mother
is telling the truth, the boy confesses his misconduct and promises to bet-
ter himself. The spirit warns him: “If you don’t follow my orders you will
see what happens!” I also become part of the Babule’s rhetoric. W hile he
converses in broken Hausa with his clients, he gives English summaries
of their conversation. [Though I understand what is said in Hausa, the
situation forces me to feign incomprehension.] The way he talks about
the “spoiled behavior of Hausa youths” leaves little room for me to object
and I respond in the affirmative. His verdict thus enforced by the second
European present, he dismisses mother and son without prescribing yet
another “medicine” (magani) and without requesting a sacrifice. (author’s
field notes, February 16, 1993)Mai ya’ki’s next clients were two young men:
Listening to the conversation between Mai ya’ki and one of them, I learn
that the latter’s visit, too, is a return visit. He has consulted the spirit seven
days earlier on behalf of his sister who is married and therefore cannot
attend in person. The problem is that she lives in a polygynous household
where her husband, influenced by his other wife, abuses her. The previous
week, Mai ya’ki had prescribed a charm and requested a red-feathered
rooster as sacrificial animal from the man’s sister. Meanwhile, Isa has
made the charm, which the spirit now hands to the man. He explains
where and how the charm is to be buried and reassures the man that the
woman’s problems will vanish.
The other man is a friend of the first. This is his first visit. He explains
that he is a student at Kano Polytechnic College and that he is having