Wombs and Alien Spirits: Women, Men, and the Zar Cult in Northern Sudan (New Directions in Anthro Writing)

424 Pages·1989·6.2 MB·English

by  Janice Boddy

Wombs and Alien Spirits
New Directions in Anthropological Writing
History, Poetics, Cultural Criticism
George E. Marcus, Rice University
James Clifford, University of California, Santa Cruz
General Editors
Wombsand
Alien Spirits
Women) Men) and the Zar Cult
in Northern Sudan
Janice Boddy
The University of Wisconsin Press
The University of Wisconsin Press
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Madison, Wisconsin 53711-2059
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Copyright © 1989
The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
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brief quotations embedded in critical articles and reviews.
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Boddy, Janice Patricia.
Wombs and alien spirits: women, men, and the Zar cult in
northern SudanlJanice Boddy.
422 pp. cm.-(New directions in· anthropological writing)
Bibliography: pp. 363-383
Includes index.
1. Women, Muslim-Sudan. 2. Zar-Sudan. 3. Marriage customs and
rites, Islamic-Sudan. 4. Spirit possession-Sudan.
5. Sex customs-Sudan. 1. Title. II. Series.
HQ1793.5.B64 1989
305.3'09625-dc20 89-40250
ISBN 0-299-12310-3 eIP
ISBN 0-299-12314-6 (pbk.)
ISBN-13: 978-0-299-12314-7 (pbk.: alk. paper)
for the women of "Hofriyat"
from a kindred spirit

Contents
Tables and Figures ix
Acknowledgments XI
Note on Transliteration xiii
Glossary xv
Prologue 3
1
Part The Human World
Chapter 1 Departures 13
Chapter 2 Enclosures 47
Chapter 3 Boundaries and Indeterminacies 89
2
Part Women, Men, and Spirits
Chapter 4 Ziir 125
ChapterS Possession, Marriage, and Fertility 166
Chapter 6 Zaineb and Umselima:
Possession as a Family Idiom 194
Chapter 7 Hosts and Spirits 238
3
Part Allegories of the Spirit World
Chapter 8 The Parallel Universe 269
vm Contents
Chapter 9 Two Ceremonies 310
Chapter 10 Arrivals: Allegory and Otherness 337
References 363
Index 385
Tables and Figures
Tables
5.1 Populations of Ever-Married Women in
Hofriyat, 1977 and 1984 169
5.2 Marital Histories of Possessed and
Nonpossessed Women 170
5.3 First Marriages of Possessed and Nonpossessed
Women 171
5.4 Reproductive Histories of Possessed and
Nonpossessed Women 173
5.5 Gendered Reproductive Success Rates for
Possessed and Nonpossessed Women 173
5.6 Fertility Problems in Possessed and
Nonpossessed Populations 175
Figures
Map of Sudan 2
2.1 Example of a Lineage Exogamous Marriage
between Classificatory Awliid ~mm 80
3.1 Milk Children 99
5.1 Percentages of Women Possessed in 1977 and
1984, by age cohort 176
6.1 Mohammed's Second and Fifth
Marriages 205
6.2 Zaineb's Extended Family 213
6.3 Urnselima's and Zaineb's Immediate
Families 216
ix