Ngoma
eBook - PDF

Ngoma

Discourses of Healing in Central and Southern Africa

  1. 274 pages
  2. English
  3. PDF
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

Ngoma

Discourses of Healing in Central and Southern Africa

About this book

Ngoma, in Bantu, means drum, song, performance, and healing cult or association. A widespread form of ritual healing in Central and Southern Africa, ngoma is fully investigated here for the first time and interpreted in a contemporary context. John Janzen's daring study incorporates drumming and spirit possession into a broader, institutional profile that emphasizes the varieties of knowledge and social forms and also the common elements of "doing ngoma."

Drawing on his recent field research in Kinshasa, Dar-es-Salaam, Mbabane, and Capetown, Janzen reveals how ngoma transcends national and social boundaries. Spoken and sung discourses about affliction, extended counseling, reorientation of the self or household, and the creation of networks that link the afflicted, their kin, and their healers are all central to ngoma—and familiar to Western self-help institutions as well. Students of African healing and also those interested in the comparative and historical study of medicine, religion, and music will find Ngoma a valuable and thought-provoking book.

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Information

Publisher
University of California Press
Year
1992
Print ISBN
9780520072657
Edition
1
eBook ISBN
9780520910850
Topic
Social Sciences
Subtopic
Anthropology
Index
Social Sciences
Settings
and
Samples
39
Figure
4.
Body
and
neck
strings
as
used
in
ngoma
to
represent
categories
of
spirits.
This
example
is
from 
Swazi 
takoza
mediums:
(a)
amadloti
(lineal
ancestor
shades),
mud-colored
beads;
(b)
Amanzawe
(nature
spirits),
red
beads;
(c)
autochthonous
Benguni 
victims
of
Swazi
wars,
white
beads;
(d)
Tinzunzu
victims
of
drowning,
white
beads.
ancestor 
shades); 
another 
white 
string, 
Tinzunzu
(victims
of
drowning).
She
had
other
necklaces
and
beads
that
had
been
donned
at
points
in
her
training.
The
fuller
bead 
bracelets
and
anklets 
indicated
her
comple-
tion
of
training.
Teaching
and
practice
in
this 
tradition, 
which 
combined
the
sangoma
and
takoza, 
appeared
to
consist
of 
the 
two
standard 
components,
di-
vining
and
singing 
rituals.
The
former 
mainly 
consisted
of
"throwing
bones"
(
pengula),
the
latter
the
singing-pronouncing
of 
the
affliction
or 
announcement 
of 
spirits 
(ukufemba) 
in 
which 
drums 
were 
used. 
Ma
Mabuza 
had 
twelve 
tigomene 
drums 
for 
these 
ukufemba 
sessions 
(see
plate
6),
although
not 
all
were 
used
at 
any 
one
time.
The
drums, 
made
of
cowhide 
membranes
on 
oil
barrels, 
were 
huge
and
sonorous, 
recalling
the
sacred 
royal 
drums
of 
the
north 
Sotho, 
Venda,
and
Luvedo,
or 
the

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Contents
  3. Figures
  4. Photographs
  5. Preface
  6. Introduction
  7. 1. Settings and Samples in African Cults of Affliction
  8. 2. Identifying Ngoma: Historical and Comparative Perspectives
  9. 3. Core Features in Ngoma Therapy
  10. 4. Doing Ngoma: The Texture of Personal Transformation
  11. 5. How Ngoma Works: Of Codes and Consciousness
  12. 6. Now Ngoma Works: The Social Reproduction of Health
  13. Conclusion
  14. Appendix A: Partial Listing of Guthrie's Inventory of Bantu Languages
  15. Appendix B: Distributions of Terms in Bantu Languages Pertaining to Therapeutic Concepts and Actions
  16. Appendix C: Instrumentation Accompanying Healing Rituals in Central and Southern Africa
  17. Notes
  18. Bibliography
  19. Index

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