“I am a man of both sides”: female power and Islam in the life and work of a male spirit healer in northern Mozambique

Abstract

ABSTRACT How can male experiences of spirit possession contribute to feminist-influenced anthropology, which has focused mostly on the subordination of women and/or their resistance to male power? I engage with this question by examining the story of Alfio, a male Makhuwa spirit healer living in the city of Nampula in northern Mozambique, who both draws upon and negotiates with female power within spirit possession. I first provide the historical context of Alfio’s story, showing how spirit possession in the matrilineal context of northern Mozambique was originally a domain of female power. I then look at how the Islamization brought about by the nineteenth-century slave trade challenged women’s spiritual power, especially with the introduction of Muslim male spirits (matxini) into local cosmologies. Given that the spirit complex that emerged during the slave trade is still prominent in Nampula today, I draw on Alfio’s story to explore the effects of Islamization on spirit possession and society. Specifically, I show how, although matriliny endured, matxini and Islam provided male healers with resources to attenuate female power and appropriate female ritual spaces. I conclude by comparing Alfio’s story with those of other healers, reflecting on the implications of these changes in spirit possession for gender relations in present-day Mozambique.