Suchergebnisse

Drawing on long-term ethnographic research in the Blue Nile town of Sennar,supported by archival and historical documentation, this article explores the history of Zarspirit possession in Sudan, and the light this throws on the interplay of religions over thepast 150 years. Life history data supports the argument that contemporary Zar is groundedin forms and rituals derived from the ranks of the ninteenth-century Ottoman army, andthese remain the basis of ritual events, even as they accommodate ongoing changes inthis part of Africa. Many of these changes are linked to the dynamic interplay of Zar withforms of Islam, on the one hand, and Christianity, on the other. In the former colonialperiods, political power resided with the British, and Khawaja (European) Christian Zarspirits are remembered as far more important. Today that authority in Zar has shifted tospirits of foreign Muslims and local holy men, on the one hand, and to subaltern Blacks,on the other. These speak to concerns of new generations of adepts even as changes in thelarger political and religious landscapes continue to transform the context of Zar.