Women and Demons

Cult Healing in Islamic Egypt

Gerda Sengers (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

302 Seiten

2002
Brill (Verlag)
978-90-04-12771-5 (ISBN)

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Lower class Egyptian women often call for traditional healers when having psychological or physical problems. Illnesses are ascribed to demons that enter the body. This study deals with the "zar", the role of music and dance, the organisational structure, and the specialists.;

This rich ethnographic study describes the nearly impossible challenge of the daily existence of women in the poor neighbourhoods of Cairo. When these women fall ill they often put the blame on beings from an invisible world that invaded their body (possession), and they seek the help of traditional healers in the Zar ceremony or Koran healing. This book examines in detail the links between cosmology, power and gender. It tackles questions such as ‘what is possession, what is being said with it, and what does society have to do with it?’. The author, who lived a long time in various poor areas of Cairo, attended many sessions of Koran healing and participated in the Zar ceremony. She observed and interviewed many possessed women, as well as healers and other ‘demon specialists’.

Gerda Sengers, Ph.D. (2000) in Social Sciences, studied Semitic languages and cultures (MA 1988) and Cultural Anthropology and the Sociology of non-Western Societies (MA 1994) at the University of Amsterdam. She has traveled extensively through the Middle East and has lived in Egypt for many years.

Preface
Transcription and Pronunciation of the Arabic Script

I. Living and Working in Cairo
Research
Cairo
The structure of this book

II. Local Cosmology
Aspects of contemporary cosmology
Influences
Jinn and other non-human beings
Magic
Aspects of Islamic methods of healing

III. Anthropological Approaches to Possession and Healing
Research into possession
Zar Research
My own research

IV. The Zar
General description
Interpretation: zar as transition rite

V. Koran Healing
General description
Men, jinn and magic
Interpretation: Koran healing as transition rite

VI. Possession as a Central Element in Local Cosmology
Vulnerability
Semotiotic Structure
Zar and Koran healing

VII. A Kaleidoscopic Picture of Egyptian Society
Fatiha
Salma
Umm Mustafa
Umm Harbi
Iman
Huda
Reda’ (and others): visit of the jinn

VIII. Concluding observations

Appendix

Erscheint lt. Verlag	21.11.2002
Reihe/Serie	International Studies in Sociology and Social Anthropology ; 86
Verlagsort	Leiden
Sprache	englisch
Maße	160 x 240 mm
Gewicht	562 g
Themenwelt	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Gender Studies
Themenwelt	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Spezielle Soziologien
ISBN-10	90-04-12771-2 / 9004127712
ISBN-13	978-90-04-12771-5 / 9789004127715
Zustand	Neuware