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Possession cults on the Swahili coast: a re-examination of theories of marginality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

Linda L. Giles
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Extract

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.

Résumé

Cultes liés à la possession d'esprit sur la côte Swahili: une seconde étude des théories de la marginalité

Cet article décrit les résultats d'une étude de doctorat de trois ans sur les cultes liés à la possession d'esprit (généralement connus sous le nom de cultes pepo ou sheitani) à la côte de la région ‘Swahili’ du Kenya et de la Tanzanie (y compris Zanzibar et Pemba). Les cultes de la possession ont été étudiés dans sept sites parmi un nombre de groupes différents, Swahili et non Swahili, Musulmans et non Musulmans.

Selon le point de vue théorique conventionnel, ces cultes jouent le rôle d'échappatoire thérapeutique ou de réels mouvements de protestation pour les éléments marginaux de la population (d'abord les femmes, la classe inférieure ou les individus ne se conformant pas aux normes) et de ce fait, sont situés à la périphérie de la plus grande partie de la société. Cet article repasse en revue cette théorie d'après l'etude que l'auteur a réalisé sur place.

L'auteur prétend que les membres du culte ne peuvent être décrits comme membres typiquement marginaux de la société. On a découvert dans ces cultes des gens de toutes les catégories sociales, y compris des personnes provenant de families hautement respectées, de bonne éducation ou économiquement bien placées. De plus, l'association avec les femmes n'était pas aussi prononcée que prévu.

Les cultes ne semblent pas être situés à la périphérie de la société. Malgré les dénonciations officielles de ces cultes par de nombreuses autorités islamiques, il existe un chevauchement considérable entre la possession d'esprit et la croyance et la pratique islamique orthodoxe. En fait, la possession d'esprit devrait être considérée comme faisant partie intégrante de la croyance et de la pratique islamique de la côte. Les membres du public en général affichent une participation considérable (à la fois directe et indirecte) dans les croyances et les pratiques du culte. Effectivement, les liens avec la communauté en général étaient auparavant tout à fait explicites gràce au rôle central des cultes dans les rites communaux.

Finalement, le culte assume un nombre de rôles différents pour ses membres ainsi que pour la société en général. L'un des plus importants, cependant, se rapporte à l'expression symbolique. Les manifestations du culte jouent le rôle de textes symboliques puissants qui expriment des structures sociales et des vues du monde plus vastes, particulièrement l'interaction de diverses religions (musulmanes et non musulmanes), de classe (y compris les esclaves) et d'influences ethniques qui restent souvent inexprimées dans l'idéologie dominante. Ainsi, le complexe de la possession pepo devrait être considéré comme l'une des expressions les plus révélatrices de la profonde structure de la société Swahili dans toute sa complexité culturelle et historique.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 57 , Issue 2 , April 1987 , pp. 234 - 258
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1987

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