Based on nearly two years of ethnographic fieldwork in a Muslim village in northern Sudan, Wombs and Alien Spirits explores the zâr cult, the most widely practiced traditional healing cult in Africa. Adherents of the cult are usually women with marital or fertility problems, who are possessed by spirits very different from their own proscribed roles as mothers. Through the woman, the spirit makes demands upon her husband and family and makes provocative comments on village issues, such as the increasing influence of formal Islam or encroaching Western economic domination. In accommodating the spirits, the women are able metaphorically to reformulate everyday discourse to portray consciousness of their own subordination.
Janice Boddy examines the moral universe of the village, discussing female circumcision, personhood, kinship, and bodily integrity, then describes the workings of the cult and the effect of possession on the lives of men as well as women. She suggests that spirit possession is a feminist discourse, though a veiled and allegorical one, on women's objectification and subordination. Additionally, the spirit world acts as a foil for village life in the context of rapid historical change and as such provides a focus for cultural resistance that is particularly, though not exclusively, relevant to women.
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“Wombs and Alien Spirits is a provocative book on women and religion and a valuable addition to the literature on Sudan.”—Victoria Bernal, The Middle East Journal
About the Author
Janice Boddy is associate professor of anthropology at the University of Toronto.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Zar as a Cultural critique,
This review is from: Wombs and Alien Spirits: Women, Men, and the Zar Cult in Northern Sudan (New Directions in Anthropological Writing) (Paperback)
"It is imperative to ask why so many Western scholars...are committed to viewing possession as a consequence of a women's deprivation rather than their privilege or perhaps their inclination...This is a classic but unhappily andocentric portrayal of women, who are forever seen as reacting to men rather than acting for themselves within a specific cultural context" (140). This assertion made by Boddy in Wombs and Alien Spirits: Women, Men and the Zar Cult in Northern Sudan aptly serves as the impetus to the endeavor successfully undertaken by Boddy in this work. Janice Boddy presents a lengthy ethnographic work concerning the Zar cult of the Sudan. Boddy's work draws from observations she made during a two year stay in the city of Hofriyat in the late 1970s. The work features systemically dispersed highly detailed first person narratives; these journal entry styled pieces are informative and dryly humorous with accounts ranging from arrival in the village - and her displeasure at the presence of large spiders in her hut -- to lengthy recounts of Zar ceremonies ripe with bright imagery. Boddy presents her work in three parts which is helpful with overall correlation. The lengthiest and most weighty part of the book is inarguably the middle section where Boddy addresses and recounts the Zar ceremonies. These ceremonies feature the possession of women whose spirits present themselves in various personalities. These possessions tend to afflict mostly women particularly those whose fertilization was been activated. Some are distinctly Western personalities: doctor, lawyer, etc. One poignant account features the spirit of a military officer who has requested the acquisition of a cane, cigarettes, and -even - a radio (125-26). Boddy's argument is found the presentation of Zar as an idiom; a veritable cultural resource with a tri-faceted function: "(1) that it is based on consensually validated, ritually confirmed information; (2) that it is conceptually removed...from primary idioms intrinsic to routine pratice; and (3) that is drawn upon collectively and individually by villagers to articulate certain problems and experiences of everyday life. (137). Boddy argues that Zar does not function as a method and outlet for women to personify any perceived cultural subordination, rather these ceremonies serve as highly sharpened and -arguably - exaggerated representations of self and their culture (270-1). This argument is only further supported when Boddy presents statistical data finding that most of those affected by possession are married women of child bearing age. These facts taken under examination with some of the most common denoting characteristics of possession (often related to fertility - infertility, miscarriage, etc) underscore Boddy's assertion that Zar functions as an idiom. The sweeping history found in the first part of the work, while helpful, is ultimately extraneous, especially considering that this work is already highly particularized and assumes one has some functioning knowledge of African history and/or culture. The level of detail found in the personal narratives allows for vibrant imagery and their calculated dispersal throughout the work is highly effective in allowing personalization in a sea of analysis that at times is entirely too lengthy.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not Actually About Aliens,
This review is from: Wombs and Alien Spirits: Women, Men, and the Zar Cult in Northern Sudan (New Directions in Anthropological Writing) (Paperback)
Wombs and Alien Spirits: Women, Men, and the Z'r Cult in Northern Sudan by anthropologist Janice Boddy is a book with a mostly self-explanatory title (I say "mostly" because it is not, in fact, about aliens). I chose this book as my other alternate reading selection for a course in Anthropological Theory, but don't let that frighten you away! I promise you the book is not dry, as the name of that class would suggest. ...For full review, please visit me (Les Livres) on Blogger!
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