The Sudanese Zār Ṭumbura Cult

Slaves, Armies, Spirits and History

Gerasimos Makris

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English

Routledge
14 April 2025

Regional studies; African history; History of religion; Islam; Social & cultural anthropology

Series: The Anthropology of History

This book offers a historically sensitive ethnography of the zār ṭumbura spirit possession cult, associated with descendants of African slaves who live mainly in the area of Greater Khartoum, Sudan. It considers the history and transformations of ṭumbura, from the 19th-century slaving era to the present post-Islamist autocracy. The chapters examine the ṭumbura spiritual universe and ceremonial life, its relation to the more popular female cult of zār borē and to other now extinct forms of celebrating the zār spirit(s), as well as ṭumbura’s combination of possession, sorcery, ancestor worship and ṣūfī piety. Based on long-term fieldwork, the study shows how successive generations of subaltern cult devotees construct a positive self-identity based on an alternative reading of Sudanese history. The author explores the edges of Sudanese Islamic religiosity and probes the limits of anthropological classifications concerning religious experience. Situating ṭumbura in its wider context, the book discusses subaltern modes of historicity in their articulation with dominant conceptions of history, traces the legacy of slavery and the role of memory and invites comparisons with Middle Eastern, Sahelian and even New World societies regarding stigmatised identities, slavery, race, memory and history. It will be of interest to scholars of anthropology, history, religious studies, Islamic studies and African studies.

By: Gerasimos Makris
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
Weight: 453g
ISBN: 9781032411897
ISBN 10: 1032411899
Series: The Anthropology of History
Pages: 274
Publication Date: 14 April 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Gerasimos Makris is a professor in the Department of Social Anthropology at Panteion University in Athens, Greece.