2012 Doenças, religião e medicina: A varíola no Benim, século XIX

Historia, Ciencias, Saude - Manguinhos

Volume 19, Issue SUPPL.1, December 2012, Pages 35-45

Disease, religion and medicine: Smallpox in nineteenth-century Benin  (Article)

[Doenças, religião e medicina: A varíola no Benim, século XIX]

Soumonni, E. 

 

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Department of History and Archaeology, University of Abomey-Calavi, 01 BP 526, Cotonou, Benin

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Abstract

The essay examines, with special reference to smallpox, the perception and interpretation of disease in precolonial Dahomey, present-day Republic of Benin. Because disease is seen primarily as a punishment from the gods and not just as a medical problem or a bodily disorder, traditional cult priests play a leading role in making diagnoses and prescribing remedies, mostly based on medicinal plants. The prominence of Sakpata, god of smallpox, coupled with the influence of its priests is evaluated within the context of Dahomey's political history and the spread of the disease. This pivotal position was to constitute a challenge to the French colonial campaign to vaccinate against smallpox.

Author keywords

Cult priests; Medicinal plants; Sakpata; Smallpox; Vaccination

ISSN: 01045970Source Type: Journal Original language: English, Portuguese

DOI: 10.1590/S0104-59702012000500003Document Type: Article

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  Soumonni, E.; Department of History and Archaeology, University of Abomey-Calavi, 01 BP 526, Cotonou, Benin; email:soumonni@hotmail.com
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