The research work investigated the relationship between spirituality and healing which within many contemporary societies has been a very controversial one and has grown to be a common phenomenon in many developing countries. The influences of the relationship between spirituality and healing in such societies have in diverse ways directed their wellbeing for years. Very crucial among such functions is their inevitable impact on the health of people. In its several chapters, the study is devoted to the common and, at the same time, uncommon relationship between spirituality and healing. While, in common terms, healing is considered to be a physical activity which normally associates medicine (practiced in a secular atmosphere involving secular methods in understanding human needs), spirituality, on the other hand, concerns the sacred and the supernatural aspects of human life. It is understood in relation to the experiential integration of a person’s life in terms of ultimate values and meanings. Among the Akan, the existence of spirituality becomes relevant due to the fact that from a practical point of view the African heritage is intensely religious. The concept of healing which has existed in the Akan community for several years seems valid and inseparable from spirituality. In defining healing, health and illness in the traditional Akan psychic, we define interplays of traditional beliefs, religious convictions and personal experiences with health facilities. Traditionally, Ghanaian society is an integrated one; illness is understood as a combination of social events and the supra-natural: health and illness are parts of the whole magico-religious fabric. In recent years, however, the introduction of Western and other Knowledge Systems on healing have been of diverse character. Currently in Ghana, there are two major types of medical practice; the traditional and the scientific medical practices. These two institutions of medicine hold different, though not mutually exclusive, worldviews guiding their respective practices. The clash of Knowledge Systems in the contemporary Akan society has had an inevitable impact on the Akan worldview.

This thesis, being focussed on a culturalist approach, required the use of the method of ‘thick descriptions’ which explains not just behavior, but context as well, such that the behavior becomes meaningful to an outsider. This allowed an in-depth interpretation of the Akan culture and spirituality. The research approach was cross sectional involving the use of diverse methods and materials. It involved collecting data from 300 respondents and 50 professionals from six districts in the Ashanti region, in Ghana. From the research, it became clear that the Akan live in a religious universe where all actions and thoughts are religiously explained and are inspired and influenced by a religious point of view. The nature of their healing system carries a high level of spirituality which in a sense emanates from the indigenous Akan spirituality. Respondents outlined many impacts of the relationship between spirituality and healing. These impacts were social, physical, religious, psychological and economic in nature. In the research are several recommendations in respect of the challenges posed by spirituality-healing relations in the Akan community. In all, the research established the fact that healing and spirituality relevantly exist in the traditional Akan society with diverse effects and impact on the socio-economic, religious, psychological and health developments of members of the society.

Schlagwörter: spirituality; medical care; healing; Akan; Akan culture; Ghana; spirituality-medicine relations; traditional African medicine; African indigenous knowledge system; treatment of diseases

Religionswissenschaftliche Studien