Emergence of an Adaptation to Urban Settings: Case of Songhay Immigrant Spirit Possession Practitioners in Bamako (Mali)

Abstract

This study addresses spirit possession practices performed by Songhay immigrants who moved to the capital city from the North of Mali where life conditions have deteriorated, with the purpose of clarifying what kind of adaptation their practices lead to, by reconsidering the meaning of “adaptation”, and describing and analyzing the characteristics of their practices.

In the related literature, spirit possessions cults have been considered as supporting anguished individuals to be adapted to the urban settings by therapy function and integration to community, and, following some of these studies, a hypothesis of spirit possession cult “therapization” has been suggested. However, these remarks are not verified in the case of Songhay immigrants. Referring to the concept of adaptation in the radical constructivism, this study assumes that, in the situation where the immigrants of various origins don't share similar experiences and knowledge relating to spirit possession, and coexist with practitioners of other spirit possession cults, Songhay practitioners (re)construct knowledge and perceptions fitting to this environment and adapt their self to the urban settings; from this perspective, the localization and delocalization of the practices have been examined.

This paper, thus, clarifies the emergence of an urban adaptation which enables the Songhay immigrants to share the possession practices with practitioners heterogenous in origins and ethnicity and where the relationship with others including spirits and the worldview tinged with morality are important.