Possession aptly describes the explicit manifestations of spirits when they temporarily displace individuals by assuming control of their bodies and minds, but the word does not account for what it means to cohabit with them. Cohabiting with Spirits offers an intimate portrait of the intertwined lives of a married couple together with the various spirits who came to possess each of them. Set against the backdrop of the island of Mayotte during the twentieth century, the book paints a vivid picture of the couple's lives, navigating the demands of their respective spirits while practising an art of cohabitation, both with the spirits and with each other.
While studies of spirit possession often focus on ceremonial practices and dramatic performances of spirit mediums in trance, Michael Lambek shifts the focus to explore what it can be like to cohabit with spirits. The book examines the ways in which various spirits entered the lives of this married couple and how their presence shaped the hosts' careers as healers, leaving lasting impacts on their domestic and personal lives. Based on rich ethnographic research conducted over the course of several decades, Cohabiting with Spirits presents a rare biography of 'ordinary' Africans in the twentieth century and celebrates the resilience of a strong marriage.
By:
Michael Lambek
Imprint: University of Toronto Press
Country of Publication: Canada
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Spine: 25mm
Weight: 1g
ISBN: 9781487559618
ISBN 10: 1487559615
Series: Anthropological Horizons
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 10 June 2025
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Primary
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming
Dramatis personae Part One: Introductions 1. Cohabiting 2. Acknowledging Spirits 3. Tumbu: The Search for Livelihood and Land Part Two: Arrivals of the Spirits 4. Mohedja, Kos Vola, and the Line of Women 5. Mze Nuru: Affirmation and Identification 6. Mze Marwan and Mze Rihu: Consolidation and Cooperation 7. Ndramboeny: Mohedja as a Curer 8. Darouesh and the Suitors Part Three: Family Matters 9. Raising Children 10. Treating Mariam’s Baby 11. Ali’s Marriage 12. Mohedja and Her Mother-in-Law Part Four: Scenes from a Marriage 13. Playing and Working: Kalu and the Kakanoru 14. Later Arrivals: Maimuna, Rasua, and the Spirit of the Maulida Part Five: Final Matters 15. Decline, Death, Succession 16. Reflections on Voice Psychoanalytic Postscript Notes References Index
Michael Lambek is a professor and Canada Research Chair emeritus in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Toronto.
