Women's Medicine, the Zar-Bori Cult in Africa and beyond

Abstract

Despite the large-scale destruction of traditional practices throughout the world, the Zar-Bori spirit-healing cult continues to hold tremendous meaning for some women in West Africa, the Sudan and North Africa, and even in the more progressive countries such as Tunisia, Kuwait, Egypt and the Gulf States. This study uses historical, anthropological and psychiatric methods to explore the social history of this growing cult and its significance for women in different places and times. It asks how and why the cult has persisted to the present day, and throws light on the environments in which it thrives. The largest indigenous African cult concerned primarily with women's matters, the Zar-Bori has survived the fundamentalist challenge and creeping modernization, yet it is in many ways a subversive movement. This aims to be a comprehensive account of its origins, spread and increasing importance in the lives of African women.