Taboos, Rituals, and Women's Spirituality in an African Society

Indigenous taboos and rituals have acquired a double-edged status with respect to women’s lived experiences in contemporary African societies. Although intricately different, African women’s spirituality is within the same general frame of African indigenous spirituality, which is intertwined with the people’s environment and culture. Thus, within this intertwined matrix, we discover how taboos and rituals underpin Nankani women’s spirituality. This chapter will analyse some Nankani taboos and rituals to demonstrate that although a double-edged sword, they are key expressions of women’s spirituality. In this chapter, I argue that taboos and rituals are vital to the understanding of women’s spirituality in societies where they do not overtly hold religious leadership positions or perform public cultic rites

Alternative medicine · Sociology · Spirituality · African history and culture analysis · African studies and sociopolitical issues · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · Gender Studies · History · Medicine