Doing Ngoma
A Dominant Trope in African Religion and Healing
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3932509 |
|---|---|
| Authors | John M Janzen (1University of Kansas - Lawrence, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1991 |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 290 |
| Publication date | 1991-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Religion in Africa (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-4200 • E-ISSN: 1570-0666 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/1581193 |
| OpenAlex | W4242033245 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 9 |
| References cited | 4 |
A widespread ritual institution in Central and Southern Africa is often referred to, or carries the name, of ngoma, at once the term for drum, as well as drumming or other musical instrumentation, singing, dancing, and the complex of constituent behavior and concepts. Particular manifestations of the institution often carry names denoting a regional or local variant that emerged at a certain time and spread into neighboring regions. Across the region where ngoma type rituals are located-much of Central and Southern Africa, and certain areas of Equatorial Africa-common characteristics include recruitment of those afflicted by a disease, chronic handicap, or social pathology; an initiation-like therapeutic course of several months or years leading from novice to fully-qualified healer status; a redefinition of the self or social group that has been defined as sick, and subsequently stabilized; an etiology of spirit possession that may occasionally be reflected in overt trance, but is often merely hypothesized and dealt with analytically; the tendency to think of the process of going through affliction and healing as a kind of legitimation for other leadership positions in society. This set of features, occasionally in association with the notion ngoma, has usually been studied and presented by scholars as a local, or tribally-particular phenomenon. This view distorts and trivializes the institution. The present paper is a distillation of a decade-long study of ngoma that has been historical and comparative in scope. This work will be published shortly in a complete monograph.1
Aesthetics · African studies · Anthropology of religion · Art · Epistemology · History of religions · Institution · Linguistics · Literature · Phenomenon · Political science · Possession (linguistics) · Social science · Sociology · Trance · Trope (literature) · African cultural and philosophical studies · African studies and sociopolitical issues · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · Gender Studies · History · Philosophy · Psychology · Religious studies
| Unique citing works | 7 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,3 |
| Citation span | 1996 - 2021 (26) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |