Spirits of Protest: Spirit-Mediums and the Articulation of Consensus among the Zezuru of Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) (Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology, Series Number 14)

In this study, Peter Fry describes and analyses spirit-mediumship amongst a community of Zezuru people living near Salisbury in Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). He examines the belief system which underpins spirit-mediumship and the basis of the mediums' authority. He pays special attention to the way in which religious beliefs are used politically in specific social situations ranging from village disputes to issues of national importance. Instead of portraying the spirits and their mediums as a fixed and stable hierarchy, Peter Fry stresses the dynamics of a religious system which changes over time in relation to changing external factors and to the ability of individual competing mediums to build up followings by responding to and moulding consensus. The book makes comparisons between the religious systems of the Zezuru and the Valley Korekore, both subgroups of Shona-speaking peoples, and concludes by discussing the role of Zezuru mediums in the context of the confrontation between black and white nationalisms. The spirit-mediums, opposed structurally to the white mission churches, are seen as vehicles of black cultural nationalism in the area. Cover......Page 1 Frontmatter......Page 2 Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgements......Page 8 Conventions......Page 9 Introduction......Page 10 1 - The secular background......Page 14 2 - Magico-religious beliefs -- the moral significance of explanation......Page 27 3 - The sociology of spirit-mediumship......Page 39 4 - Zezuru flexibility and Korekore rigidity......Page 63 5 - Spirit-mediums in ritual action......Page 77 6 - Spirit-mediums and missionaries......Page 116 Notes......Page 133 Bibliography......Page 142 Index......Page 146 Cover 1 Frontmatter 2 Contents 6 Acknowledgements 8 Conventions 9 Introduction 10 1 - The secular background 14 2 - Magico-religious beliefs -- the moral significance of explanation 27 3 - The sociology of spirit-mediumship 39 4 - Zezuru flexibility and Korekore rigidity 63 5 - Spirit-mediums in ritual action 77 6 - Spirit-mediums and missionaries 116 Notes 133 Bibliography 142 Index 146 9780521040754 Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology (No. 14) Peter Fry. Includes Index. Bibliography: P. 133-136.