Divining the Past, Present, and Future: Divination - David Zeitlyn - Zoom

Divination: ‘Looking for answers, not just stars and cards but spiders too!’’

After many years of studying Mambila spider divination in Cameroon I will discuss different ways of understanding a particular occult practice such as ŋgam dù – versions of which are found throughout southern Cameroon. This allows us to better appreciate the approaches to the academic study of divination exemplified in the recent Oxford exhibition and related book. People are looking for answers to hard questions. There is huge variation in how answers are produced. We should focus on questions not techniques when thinking about divination in general.

Bio:

David Zeitlyn is professor of social anthropology at University of Oxford and conseil technique to the chief of Somié in Cameroun. He is an initiated ŋgam dù Spider diviner. He has been working with Mambila in Cameroon since 1985. Recent publications include An Anthropological Toolkit: Sixty Useful Concepts (2022) and Mambila Divination: Framing Questions, Constructing Answers (2020). With Michelle Pfeffer he curated the exhibition in Oxford, ‘Oracles Omens Answers’ (Dec 2024-April 2025): https://visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/event/oracles-omens-and-answers and edited the related book, Divination Oracles Omens published by Bodleian Library Press:
https://bodleianshop.co.uk/products/divination-oracles-omens (in Europe and UK), or in
USA: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/D/bo249121065.html

Image: A divinatory result: Asking about Trump and Biden (2019)

don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day

Curated & Hosted by

Marguerite Johnson is a cultural historian of the ancient Mediterranean, specialising in sexuality and gender, particularly in the poetry of Sappho, Catullus, and Ovid, as well as magical traditions in Greece, Rome, and the Near East. She also researches Classical Reception Studies, with a regular focus on Australia. In addition to ancient world studies, Marguerite is interested in sexual histories in modernity as well as magic in the west more broadly, especially the practices and art of Australian witch, Rosaleen Norton. She is Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History at The University of Queensland, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. She lives in Mytilene on the Greek island of Lesvos.

Divining the Past, Present, and Future: Oracles, Series 1

Join us for Series 1 as we journey into the histories and mysteries of divination. Delivered by leading scholars in the field, ‘Divining the Past, Present, and Future’ includes talks on specific types of divination, from Mambila spider divination to Medieval necromancy.

Image: John Collier, ‘Priestess of Delphi’ (1891), Art Gallery of South Australia