Ngoma: Discourses of Healing in Central and Southern Africa

John M. Janzen

Published by University of California Press 1992

Ngoma

Discourses of Healing in Central and Southern Africa

John M. Janzen

Volume 34 in the series Comparative Studies of Health Systems and Medical Care

https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520910850

Overview
Contents

About this book

Ngoma, in Bantu, means drum, song, performance, and healing cult or association. A widespread form of ritual healing in Central and Southern Africa, ngoma is fully investigated here for the first time and interpreted in a contemporary context. John Janzen's daring study incorporates drumming and spirit possession into a broader, institutional profile that emphasizes the varieties of knowledge and social forms and also the common elements of "doing ngoma."

Drawing on his recent field research in Kinshasa, Dar-es-Salaam, Mbabane, and Capetown, Janzen reveals how ngoma transcends national and social boundaries. Spoken and sung discourses about affliction, extended counseling, reorientation of the self or household, and the creation of networks that link the afflicted, their kin, and their healers are all central to ngoma—and familiar to Western self-help institutions as well. Students of African healing and also those interested in the comparative and historical study of medicine, religion, and music will find Ngoma a valuable and thought-provoking book.

Author / Editor information

Janzen John M. :

John M. Janzen is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Kansas. His previous books include Lemba 1650-1930 (1982), and Quest for Therapy in Lower Zaire (California, 1978), which won the Wellcome Prize and Medal of the Royal Anthropological Institute.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Figures Publicly Available Download PDF	viii
Photographs Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. Settings and Samples in African Cults of Affliction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	10
2. Identifying Ngoma Historical and Comparative Perspectives Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	57
3. Core Features in Ngoma Therapy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	85
4. Doing Ngoma The Texture of Personal Transformation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	108
5. How Ngoma Works Of Codes and Consciousness Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	130
6. How Ngoma Works The Social Reproduction of Health Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	153
Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	173
Appendix A Partial Listing of Guthrie's Inventory of Bantu Languages Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
Appendix B Distributions of Terms in Bantu Languages Pertaining to Therapeutic Concepts and Actions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	189
Appendix C Instrumentation Accompanying Healing Rituals in Central and Southern Africa Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	209
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	235

Language: English
Publisher: University of California Press
Pages
- Main content: 276

eBook

Published: October 21, 1992
ISBN: 9780520910850