"Marriage and Madness": marriage stability and demon possession in Irigwe, Nigeria
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Citation
Abstract
INTRODUCTION
This paper has three major sections. Section I presents a brief review of the basic attributes of
Irigwe social organization. It then outlines the major characteristics of the traditional Irigwe
marriage system, and highlights the affiliative dilemmas and stresses that it imposes on
women.
Section II, which is the ethnographic heart of the paper, outlines a type of demon (or
spirit) possession prevalent among Irigwe women, and describes in detail two levels of
treatment, namely "Demon Placating [Sá Rîjé]" and "Demon Taming [Nyí Rîjé]."3
Section III reviews briefly the successive stages and the socially integrative aspects of
Irigwe demon possession treatment, and points out how the treatment procedures strengthen
the kinds of kinship and neighborhood ties that women's multiple marriages render difficult for them to achieve and maintain. It also notes that the treatment procedures afford some women the opportunity to achieve recognition and wide acclaim as "demon possession healers [nevo rîjé]."
Description
African Studies Center Working Paper No. 260
License
Copyright © 2008, by the author.