Possession cults on the Swahili coast: a re-examination of theories of marginality
- 1 April 1987
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in Africa
- Vol. 57 (2) , 234-258
- https://doi.org/10.2307/1159823
Abstract
Opening Paragraph: This article examines the role of spirit possession cults in the Swahili coastal area of Kenya and Tanzania, based on three years (1982–85) of doctoral dissertation research in seven field sites (including the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba). It provides a reassessment of the conventional theoretical viewpoint that such cults are peripheral to the wider society's value and socio-cultural structure, asserting that in this case they are, in fact, not only central to it but actually one of its most illuminating expressions.This publication has 35 references indexed in Scilit:
- "Ordinary Household Chores": Ritual and Power in a 19th-Century Swahili Women's Spirit Possession CultThe International Journal of African Historical Studies, 1984
- From Zinj to Zanzibar: Studies in History, Trade and Society on the Coast of Eastern AfricaThe International Journal of African Historical Studies, 1984
- Structuralist PoeticsContemporary Literature, 1977
- Configurations: Biological and Cultural Factors in Sexuality and Family Life.Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews, 1976
- public and private politics: women in the Middle Eastern world1American Ethnologist, 1974
- Swahili Islamic PoetryJournal of Religion in Africa, 1973
- Ritual and Symbol in Transitional Zaramo Society with Special Reference to WomenJournal of Religion in Africa, 1971
- Spirit Mediumship and Society in AfricaJournal of Religion in Africa, 1971
- Man in AfricaThe Geographical Journal, 1970
- Millhands and PreachersSouthern Economic Journal, 1942