The possession stateintwaso: An anthropological re-appraisal

Abstract

Intwaso is an indigenous condition which has been the subject of a great deal of psychological and psychiatric research over the past 50 years. The central tenet of this article is that a distorted interpretation of intwaso is inevitable if the condition is examined outside both the micro and macro structural context of South African society. Under such circumstances, the research design would rule out the possibility of identifying the conditions which contribute to or coincide with the condition. This article, based on a research project, briefly describes the way in which an attempt was made to re-approach a study of the condition by localizing it within a range of other illness episodes suffered by householders living in a Black township. A particular illness, tuberculosis, was used as a control in order to establish the social determinants of differing patient-family prophylactic measures and therapy management. This is of central importance to an understanding of intwaso since some social contexts create circumstances in which an ancestral possession state is the explanation for successive illness episodes and misfortunes. S. Air. J. Sociol. 1985, 16(1): 9–13 This article is a brief resumé of some aspects of a research project conducted in fulfilment of the requirements for an M.A. degree at the University of Cape Town in 1983.