From Ere to Missionaries and to Duku: The Transformation of Traditional Healing Practices in Nias
Keywords:
traditional healers, beliefs, local culture, symbols, ChristianityAbstract
Introduction: Configurations of illness and disease are closely associated with traditional healers within contexts of medical pluralism, where diverse healing systems coexist and compete for legitimacy. These practitioners are often perceived as barriers to the modernization of healthcare, as they tend to be more trusted by local communities. However, their authority is not incidental; it is socially constructed through processes of legitimation embedded in local cultural and historical dynamics.
Objectives: This short report examines the position of traditional healers on Nias Island by focusing on three dimensions: pre-missionary beliefs, the transformative role of missionaries, and the contemporary practices of traditional healers.
Methods: The study analyzes the relationship between pre-missionary beliefs, missionary encounters, and current healing practices to explore how symbolic authority and legitimacy are constructed and maintained within the local context.
Results: The findings show that traditional healers employ symbolic repertoires and performative mechanisms that parallel those associated with missionary practices, including ritual authority, narrative legitimation, and structured patient engagement. Rather than simply replacing indigenous belief systems, missionary encounters contributed to the reconfiguration of local understandings of healing, authority, and ritual practice. As a result, traditional healers remain deeply embedded within the socio-psychological fabric of the community.
Conclusions: The continued acceptance of traditional healers reflects not merely cultural persistence, but an adaptive process in which authority and trust are negotiated in the aftermath of missionary encounters, long after missionaries ceased their presence on Nias Island.
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