ePub The Rise of a Party-State in Kenya: From "Harambee!" to "Nyayo!" by Jennifer A. Widner in History

Description

This finely drawn portrait of a complex; polycultural urban community in Madagascar emphasizes the role of spirit medium healers; a group heretofore seen as having little power. These women; Leslie Sharp argues; are far from powerless among the peasants and migrant laborers who work the land in this plantation economy. In fact; Sharp's wide-ranging analysis shows that tromba; or spirit possession; is central to understanding the complex identities of insiders and outsiders in this community; which draws people from all over the island and abroad.Sharp's study also reveals the contradictions between indigenous healing and Western-derived Protestant healing and psychiatry. Particular attention to the significance of migrant women's and children's experiences in a context of seeking relief from personal and social ills gives Sharp's investigation importance for gender studies as well as for studies in medical anthropology; Africa and Madagascar; the politics of culture; and religion and ritual.