Book
Horses, musicians & gods: the Hausa cult of possession-trance
Bergin & Garvey Publishers • South Hadley, Mass. • Published In 1983 • Pages:
By: Besmer, Fremont E..
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Besmer's study deals with the Hausa bori cult of spirit-possession, or possesion-trance, as practiced in Nigeria. Besmer focuses on the cult's adepts, or trancers, and the musicians who also play an important role in trance events. The author presents a detailed analysis of the social organization of bori spirits, which is a reflection of Hausa social organization. Hausa social stratification is revealed by Besmer's description of Jangare, the dwelling place of bori spirits, and also by his descriptions of trance events. According to Besmer, possession trance events serve both curing and initiation functions, and the bori cult provides an opportunity for the Hausa, particularly Hausa women, to redefine their positions in society.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Congregations
- Magicians and diviners
- Music
- Spirits and gods
- Status, role, and prestige
- Gift giving
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Hausa
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 1997
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Africa
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Western Africa
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Ronald N. Johnson; 1995
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- Sept. 1972 - Dec. 1973
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- not specified
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- northern Nigeria
- NotesAdditional notes
- Fremont E. Besmer
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 277-280) and index
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 81010153
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Hausa (African people)