Abstract
What do you do if you feel unwell? If one considers the statistics which claim that there are about one hundred times more officially registered traditional healers than medical doctors in Tanzania (78), then one can assume that most Tanzanians prefer to consult a traditional healer over a medical doctor. Anthropologist Lisa Mackenrodt investigates how these healers operate in the Tanzanian coastal town of Tanga, where she undertook several periods of field work between 2003 and 2007. In her book Swahili Spirit Possession and Islamic Healing in Contemporary Tanzania, which constitutes Volume 4 of the series “Fern/Sehen: Perspektiven der Sozialanthropologie”, Mackenrodt explores how the worldview of the East African coastal population is shaped by their perception of the spirit world.
After an introductory chapter, in which I.M. Lewis’ functionalist works on spirit possession are set as the theoretical framework for the journey into the supernatural that follows, the author familiarizes the reader with both the population of the Swahili coast and East African Islam. Mackenrodt supplements the historical account by analysing the current influences of Iran and Saudi Arabia on East Africa, thereby demonstrating that East African Islam is characterized by dynamism and by debates over the use of language, Quranic interpretations and spiritual healing.
The next chapter is dedicated to Tanga in particular. The writer's description of the settlement as a “typical Swahili stone town” (49) is, however, misleading because this term generally refers to precolonial settlements with multi-storey housing, like in Zanzibar, Lamu or Mombasa, whereas Tanga is shaped by colonial town planning.
Chapters 4 through 6 represent the core of the book, containing Mackenrodt's research findings on traditional healers, the world of spirits and spirit possession. Different networks of traditional healers are analysed, from local family groups via official associations on a municipal level all the way to national and international organizations. Thus, the author takes the subject of traditional healing out of a local niche and puts it into a global context. Through the use of the biographical method, Mackenrodt succeeds in demonstrating that the activities of healers are not simply surviving relics of long-gone practices but are actually very up to date and part of daily life. Supernatural practitioners are portrayed sensitively as “keepers of traditions as well as agents of change” (195) who face criticism from various angles, being called “un-Islamic” by staunch Muslims, “pagan” by strict Christians and “primitive” by development officials. Mackenrodt's analysis of different categories of healers and spirits includes a solid literature review that relates her findings to similar examples from West Africa and Asia, thereby placing them into a broader context.
Up until Chapter 6, the book presents solid research findings. But it is the next two chapters that make the work stand out, and differentiate it from other accounts of spirit possession in classical anthropology. In Chapter 8, Mackenrodt passionately discusses the relationship of “possession and biomedicine”, challenging biomedical hegemony and international development cooperation's attitude toward traditional healers. She criticizes development practitioners who “judge local knowledge through the selective Western or biomedical eye”. Mackenrodt states that “many Western organizations repeat old [colonial] patterns when it comes to medical aid, thus reinforcing colonial structures in an officially decolonized region” (85). As the author is a former advisor for the German Development Service, the reader itches for more details from her work experience that could further support her views. This notwithstanding, her analyses of the biomedical model, psychiatry, the NGO complex and the challenges of HIV/AIDS in relation to traditional healing help explain the conflicts and misunderstandings that sometimes occur between members of Swahili society and representatives of outside development efforts.
Chapter 9 comprises the strongest contribution the author makes to the subject of spirit possession. In this chapter, titled “Affliction abroad: Thoughts on jinn and healing by Swahili migrants in Berlin”, she documents, using detailed field reports, how Swahili people in the diaspora cope with the spirits, clearly demonstrating that belief in spirits and participation in spirit-possession rituals are an “integral part of Swahili culture” (196), whether in a tiny fishing village in East Africa or in an apartment block in Europe. Finally, Chapter 10 summarizes the writer's findings.
Mackenrodt follows a holistic approach in analysing the health and well-being of Tanzanians, discussing biomedical options, traditional herbalists, jinns and even witchcraft. It is, however, surprising that the important role ancestral spirits have in many Tanzanian ethnic groups is overlooked. As the book conceptualizes Swahili culture rather broadly, the work would have benefitted if the ideas of the supernatural among the African indigenous population – an equally important part of the amalgam that constitutes Swahili culture – had also been introduced.
One editorial weakness of the volume is that some rather long quotations have not been translated into English (74, 92, 93, 164), which makes it difficult for non-German readers to follow the author's arguments in these instances. Also, an index of abbreviations would have been helpful, especially because Chapter 7 is full of acronyms and development-cooperation jargon.
Publications on spirit possession are numerous. What makes Mackenrodt's work unique is the way she links the topic with ongoing approaches of international cooperation efforts and with the everyday lives of members of the Swahili diaspora in a Western metropolis like Berlin. Furthermore, she informs the reader about recent developments relating to spirit possession, such as healer associations and government certification initiatives.
Mackenrodt successfully manages to demonstrate that jinns are part of modern Swahili life, including in the Swahili diaspora worldwide. Moreover, the concept of jinns influences the way the Swahili deal with efforts of international development cooperation. By covering these topics, Mackenrodt provides readers with a wide-reaching overview of the state of spirit possession in today's Swahili world.
To conclude, the book is highly recommended for readers with an academic interest in spirit possession and for development practitioners within the health sector. With its thought-provoking analysis, this work definitely provides food for thought and an opportunity for self-reflection.