Illness, therapy, and change in Ethiopian possession cults

Abstract

This article examines patterns of continuity and change in spirit possession phenomena among the Sidamo of southern Ethiopia. Traditional possession rituals appear to be losing cultural relevance, owing to the increasing popularity of possession and exorcistic healing enacted within the ritual context of independent religious movements. Such movements emerged in the region as a response to widespread conversion to Christianity and Islam in the 1950s and 1960s. Patterns of possession healing in the new cults are analysed in relation to the prevailing holistic definition of health and the role attributed to supernatural agents i n illness aetiology. While outlining points of convergence and divergence in the recodification of rituals, this article highlights their therapeutic objectives and the centrality of healing in the newly emerged cults. It is argued that the political and sex antagonism model proposed by ‘deprivation theories’ is inadequate to explain the changing modalities of spirit possession and its persistence on the African scene. Independent healing movements should be recognised as an important health resource where rural and urban Africans seek relief from a wide range of organic and mental illnesses, personal misfortunes, and stressful life situations.

Money, Modernization and Ambivalence Among the Sidāma of Northeastern Africa

“…So it has been for the Sid[ a m a c r ] ma. 10 mo: examples include Brøgger (1986), Cerulli (1956) and Vecchiato (1993). Following the use of my assistant Hotesso (1983) [1964][1965]1973, and on a short visit to Ethiopia in 1984.…”

Dissociative trance and spirit possession: Challenges for cultures in transition

“…Such frameworks are useful, because they accommodate situations where the relation between distress and social acceptability may be constantly shifting. Vecchiato argues that the development of independent religious movements in southern Ethiopia has led to changing conceptions of possession states, indicating that earlier instrumental models of possession were inadequate to explain the more health‐oriented experiences of afflicted individuals.…”

Coffee and the moral order: Ethiopian Jews and Pentecostals against culture

“…Once a bargain has been struck, zarenya may be transformed into an essentially manageable chronic affliction (Messing ; Young ). In Ethiopia, several different ethnic groups refer to these spirits collectively as shaytan , which may help to contextualize the satanic terminology invoked by Pentecostals (Vecchiato :179; cf. Lewis ), who typically reject any accommodation with what they consider to be a form of deep Satanic compulsion—a veritable pathology of the moral will (cf.…”