Contextualizing Identity: The social implications of

being posse s s ed by spirits in changing African

traditions
Spirit possession, although a phenomenon neither unique nor restricted to Africa, has nonetheless
become a focus of and a catchphrase in African studies. While the belief in the existence of spirits can be
construed as intrinsic to the forms of spirituality and religions traditional to African cultures (along with
beliefs such as witchcraft and shamanism), and even today is a widely accepted facet of daily life, the
being possessed by spirits and being involved in spirit possession cults are active endeavours, culturally
situated, with social implications, distinct from passive belief. Ethnographic examinations and
anthropological analyses ave attempted to locate spirit possession in African cultures. As with many such
phenomenons, generalization across the entirety of Africa can threaten understanding, obscuring
specificities and assuming the need for an universal explanation; various forms exist across the continent,
each socio-culturally and temporally specific, and have changed throughout time. Not only have many
possession traditions have spread (with migration and slavery) across regions and been adopted or
perhaps rephrased into local conceptions, but all such practices seems to share several recurrent
elements: the majority of spirit possession seems to primarily involve women (as participants in the
surrounding rituals and even more predominantly as those possessed), often resolves with negotiation
(rather than exorcism) of spirits, and has much to do with social structure in terms of identity, definition by
contradistinction, public entertainment, catharsis and therapy.
“Spirit possession commonly refers to the hold exerted over a human being by external forces or
entities more powerful than she. These forces may be ancestors or divinities, ghosts of foreign origin, or
entities both ontologically and ethnically alien.” (Boddy 1994, 407) Possession refers both to lifelong
“symptoms” of the afflicted and the trances into which they fall and through which they communicate with
their spirits: “acting” out the roles of the spirits by whom they are possessed. Any variety of illnesses can
be ascribed to spirit possession – from what the Western world would term psychological or neurotic to
those which are more generally physical. (Raybeck 1989) After “diagnosis” a ritual to draw out, identify,
and negotiate with the spirit is undertaken by a spirit possession “cult”, into which the individual is usually
initiated. (Peters 1980) “Possession.... is... an integration of spirit and matter, force or power and

1 -- Tankard 2010
corporeal reality, in a cosmos where the boundaries between an individual and her environment are
acknowledged to be permeable, flexibly drawn, or at least negotiable.” (Boddy 1994, 407)
Public affirmation resulting from a woman's participation in spirit possession – and her initiation
ritual – is often the focus of analysis, interpreting the phenomenon as a means for personal and cultural
confirmation, much as in the demonstration of a rite of passage, by a “peripheral” method. (Sered 1994,
488) The leading explanation of spirit possession cults can be traced largely to Lewis' (1966) theory of
peripherality and his idea of central and peripheral cults – central cults reinforcing the mainstream social
values and peripheral cults serving to empower, or at least temporarily enable, the socially
disenfranchised. Women's involvement in spirit cults as “compensation for their exclusion and lack of
authority in other spheres” (310). Lewis felt that women could “exert mystical pressures upon their
superiors in circumstances of deprivation and frustration when few other sanctions are available to them”
(318) and that the exclusion of women, a contradiction of social values in which fertility is often central, is
in some ways dealt with by spirit possession (321). Lewis' elaboration of the social mechanism which
spirit possession cults seem to embody has been criticized for, among other issues, de-emphasizing the
role of intra-gender conflict, as between co-wives, and for imposing an ethnocentric view of women's
deprivation by assuming that “women in 'male-dominated' societies have an ethnographer's view of their
society, internalise it, get disturbed by it, and protest by succumbing to spirits” (Wilson 1967, 372).
However, studies following continue to highlight the elements of social implication that he identified: spirit
possession as a means – among a dearth of options – for self-expression and the acceptance of social
roles and, primarily, a way of classifying, explaining, and treating illness (Lewis 1966, 321).
Possession by spirits is a “public performance by women during which men, particularly their
husbands, bestow on them a mark of favour” (Wilson 1967, 374). This is particularly true of the beliefs
and rituals surrounding the Zar cult. Primarily practised in Arabic-influenced Muslim regions, the Zar cult
has been so frequently referenced and studied as to become representative of African spirit possession in
general. Boddy (1988) detailed its practice in the Sudanese village of Hofriyat, which she characterized as
being focused on the idiom of “interiority” as a “general organizing principle and aesthetic standard” (5).
Women are “made virgins” by Pharonic circumcision (the excision of the labia and clitoris and near
complete infabulation) which enables them to bear “legitimate” children (Boddy 1988, 6); the sexes are
defined in opposition, men concerned with the external and exposed, women controlled by their carnal
natures and less rational and wise than men (Boddy 1988, 5). Women's lives are largely concentrated on
their fertility and on maintaining their segregation. “Forever a jural minor” (Boddy 1988, 9) in Sudanese
society a woman has few acceptable forms of expression; emotional displays are considered vulgar.
While women enact rites regarding circumcision, marriage, and childbirth, (Constantinides 1985, 687)
they are excluded from daily religion: illiterate, they cannot read the Qu'ran and cannot enter mosques –
thereby, they are not expected to be familiar with liturgy and doctrine and are, in a sense, less
constrained by it as they are assumed to be too weak to uphold and maintain it own their own (Boddy
1988, 9). They are possessed due to their frailty (Boddy 1988, 10). Zar possession is considered to be
both a symptom and a cause of women's illnesses, as Zar are attracted to those who are stressed or ill,
but considered capable of bringing on the illness and all of its symptoms. Zar possession is considered a
lifelong and incurable, although manageable, condition. (Boddy 1988, 11) After diagnosis, women are

2 -- Tankard 2010
induced into a trance in which they accept and accommodate their spirits; the spirits identify themselves
and demand certain, often expensive and characteristically feminine, gifts. (Boddy 1988, 12) Zar are
hedonistic, they enter humans to be entertained. (Boddy 1988, 11) The spirits that possess the women of
Hofriyat are foreign: examples of all the societies with which the Hofriyat have come into contact within
the last few centuries; they are believed to subvert local values whilst simultaneously being attracted to
them. The Zar rite is both a cure and a party. (Boddy 1988, 12)
Boddy notes that, considering the nature of its initial symptoms, it is tempting to consider
possession as an idiom for neurosis – but this does not explain the entirety of the cases nor the social
ramifications. In addition to providing an explanation and an excuse for behaviours that do not otherwise
mesh with the society's world view, and serving as a means to express the dissonance between that
which a woman may experience and that which she is expected to experience. (1988, 14) Boddy
addresses the issue of self-conceptualization; identity as a process of interaction with the world. Spirit
possession, she posits, is an opportunity for women to view themselves from an outside (or, at least what
they would perceive to be an outside) perspective – as Zar spirits are quintessentially foreign, so are the
behaviours which they induce. (1988, 22) “Possession trance encourages reflection, a limited dismantling
of the taken-for-granted world, enabling the possessed, in its aftermath, to see her life in a very different
light” (Boddy 1988, 20) and by accepting the diagnosis of possession, a woman dissociates from those
elements of herself which are in conflict with social expectation, turning the internal contradiction into an
external, public, and communal confrontation. “The Zar rite is a cultural therapy; its curative powers derive
less from a virtual experience of trance than from the entire possession context that renders it, and
countless other experiences, meaningful.” (Boddy 1988, 12) Zar possession can be considered a
dialogue regarding a woman's understanding of herself, that takes place via trance and her behaviours
during trance – which she is not supposed to remember; true trances being amnesiac (Peters 1980, 402)
– which are reported to her afterwards by those who observed them. The recurrence of trance and
continuing nature of possession, as women continue to be involved in the cult and to manifest their spirits
as other women are diagnosed, presents this as an ongoing situation.
That possession is an attractive to the sufferer relates not only to the fact that it explains their
“illness” in a manner for which they are not responsible, but also to the role of the cult and the “support
group” of women that they gain by entering it (Constantinides 1985, 688). Zar rituals are generally held in
the home of the afflicted and involve the gathering of all female kin – including the cult leader, who is
often female. The leaders, although referred to by various names, are often the most powerful and
independent women in the village or region, with strength and prestige – and a great deal more freedom
than is the norm, as they are allowed to visit homes of strangers and to receive large numbers of
strangers into their own homes. Further, they often arbitrate disputes and are turned to for advice.
(Constantinides 1985, 690) Despite these opportunities for female “advancement” and the general
challenge which it presents, most scholars feel that, overall, the Zar cult serves to maintain the status quo
rather than to challenge it. Sered (1994) discusses the role of “sisterhood” and women's religious groups,
building a model in which she distinguishes those for “Temporary and Individual Interests” (where she
places the Zar cult) and those which are “Ongoing and Collective Interests”; although using different
criteria than Lewis' model of central and peripheral cults, many of the same implications apply – the

3 -- Tankard 2010
Peripheral or Temporary groups serving to resign its members to a less than ideal situation whereas the
Central or Ongoing groups more actively support, enable, and even change its members' lives. Perhaps
the most significant similarity is that in neither model are the groups mutually exclusive, representing a
continuum as opposed to a binary. While Sered considers the Zar cult Temporary, she cites Boddy in
noting that as it strengthens matrilinieal bonds and ideology, it strengthens the women's power base in
the community (4).
The Pepo cult is described by Giles (1987) as a type of syncretic cult common throughout the
Islamic world and sub-Saharan Africa in particular (234). Like Zar and other spirit possession cults, it is
associated primarily with women, and secondarily with “lower class members of stratified societies” (234).
Detailing examples from the Swahili coast, in which various localized cults are largely autonomous and
focused around the cult leaders (239) and having often assimilated local traditions – such as the belief,
particularly strong in Pemba, of the spirits as guardians of the community, perhaps referencing previous
pre-Islamic religious practices (247). Spirits may be inherited or sent by witchcraft and initially manifest
through illness or misfortune. Although many spirits are indeed exorcised, some are deemed “useful” and
appeased – generally through sacrifices and material gifts. The more “possessive” of possessing spirits
“demand” that their hosts be initiated into the cult, in which “the human may agree to become the regular
mount of the spirit” (241) and some spirits demand that their host be continually initiated to higher ranks
within the cult – requiring more ritual and, of course, more fees. Giles strongly objects to the
characterization of cult members as “marginal” to Swahili society. Although a minority of the population is
involved in cult activity or initiated, they come from all backgrounds and socio-economic levels, including
those with higher education and whom have lived abroad. Indeed, the majority of the population posits
“potential” members with the belief being, if not universal, at least considerably more widespread than the
practice, and far more so than may be apparent. (242) Many who do not attend ceremonies say they are
afraid of “catching” a spirit at a ceremony – and many cult members report first being possessed as
spectators. (246) Giles agrees with Constantinides and others in noting the role that the cult serves in
“providing members with a close-knit group of 'family' for support in a heterogeneous and complex social
setting, especially in urban areas” (247). Cult-relationships are often expressed in kinship-terms: parent-
child relationships between both the cult leaders and members and an initiate and her appointed mentor,
and the division of the cult into generations with those initiated at the same time considered siblings.
Different cults are organized around different spirits and many people are members of more than one.
(248) While women constitute a surprising involvement in cult activity, relative to the rest of Swahili life,
the Pepo cults are not as female-dominated as the Zar cult; women are the majority of members, but cult
leaders are equally male and female; cult activity is significant, however, as one of the few realms of
Swahili life in which men and women come together as equals (248).
The spirit possession cult practised by the Oyo-Yoruba is a prime example of syncretism. The
Oyo-Yoruba traditionally “since the farthest reaches of collective memory” (Matory 1994, 496) recognized
the existence of a high god and a pantheon of spirits, or orisa, who frequently possessed, or “mounted”
the initiated priests, referred to as “brides”. This belief system was central to their understanding of their
feudal system and political structures: the possession priests made up the majority of bureaucrats and
functionaries and represented the king's power and authority by displaying their subservience to him, and

4 -- Tankard 2010
symbolizing his subservience to the gods (Matory 1994, 499) While the Oyo-Yoruba high god was
amalgamated with Allah, after Islam became predominant, and fitted into the new narrative, the
priesthood, or the spirit possession cult, became a political focus for resistance to colonisation and today
continues to serve mainly as a means for the new urban population to relate to their in the villages and
the villages themselves. Participation in orisa rites identifies one with a village – and gives one the right to
make claims regarding inheritance, property, and habitation: unwelcome female divorcees, for example,
may turn to the possession cult in order to legitimize their return to their natal home (500) and
participation is necessary to claim hereditary titles (499) by demonstrating one's “ultimate commitment” to
the village (500). Orisa possession had traditionally been wrapped in gendered metaphor and priestesses
had carried authority within the cult; oppression of the “pagan” activity has resulted in the continued and
increased oppression of female authority and matrilineal inheritance (503).
“Spirit assertions of difference or identity are metastatements: coded mora and political acts of the
humans they possess, derived from thinking about one's relationships to others by thinking through the
Other writ large.” (Boddy 1994, 423) Spirit possession – being possessed, accepting the possession, and
enacting it – is a way of locating oneself within the community and tradition. Spirit possession cults, as
extended families, build relationships and support networks. It ties contemporary Africans to the ancestor
worship and traditions of their past. It can initially be a communication of confusion or dissatisfaction, and
can then serve to accommodate and resign one to a certain social position – as many suggest of the Zar
cult – or to change one's position as women are empowered through leadership in the cults. Although the
social implications are many, as spirit possession is an ongoing dynamic, much of spirit possession cults
are concerned with identity and relationship: the questioning of such and the search for – within social
and communal bounds. In many African societies to be possessed is to disclose an insecurity,
inadequacy, or fault – and to ask for the community's help in addressing and curing it. Spirit possession,
perhaps fundamentally, implies the need for social acceptance and understanding.

Bibliography
Alpers, E. (1984) 'Ordinary Household Chores': Ritual and power in a 19th century Swahili Women's
Boddy, J. (1994) Spirit Possession revisited: Beyond Instrumentality, Annual Review of Anthropology. 23: 407-434
Boddy, J. (1988) Spirits and selves in Northern Sudan: The cultural therapeutics of possession and trance, American Ethnologist
4-4-27
Constantinides, P. (1985) Women Heal Women: Spirit Possession and Sexual Segregation in a Muslim Society, Social Science
Medicine 21: 685-692
Csordas, T. (1987) Health and the Holy in African and Afro-American Spirit Possession, Social Science Medicine 24: 1-11
Giles, L. (1987) Possession Cults on the Swahili Coast: A Re-Examination of the Theories of Marginality, Africa 57: 234-258
Giles, L. (1994) Sociocultural Change and Spirit Possession on the Swahili Coast of East Africa, Anthropological Quarterly,
68: 89-106
Lewis, I. (1966) Spirit Possession and Deprivation Cults, Man 1: 307-329
Matory, J. (1994) Rival Empires: Islam and the religions of spirit possession among the Oyo-Yoruba, American Ethnologist 21:
495-515
Pearce, O. (1999) She Will Not Be Listened To In Public: Perceptions among the Yoruba of Infertlity and Childlessness in
Women, Reproductive Health Matters 7: 68-79
Peters, L. and D. Price-Williams (1980) Towards an experiential analysis of shamanism, American Ethnologist
Raybeck, D., J. Shobe, and J. Grauberger (1989) Women, Stress, and Participation in Possession Cults: A Reexamination of
the Calcium Deficiency Hypothesis, Medical Anthropology Quarterly
Sered, S. (1994) Ideology, Autonomy, and Sisterhood: An Analysis of the Secular Consequences of Women's Religions, Gender
and Society 8: 486-506
Wilson, P. (1967) Status ambiguity and spirit possession, Man 2: 366-378

5 -- Tankard 2010