Thesis
The embodiment of privileged knowledge: djinn healing in urban Mali
Washington State University
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
05/2016
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/102149
Abstract
Since the inception of Islam, djinns-- invisible, non-human beings with traits that parallel the human world-- have been an established part of Muslim cosmology. They are believed to cause physical and mental illnesses and disrupt social relationships. Muslim populations differ on how to treat djinn-related afflictions; orthodox approaches advocate strict exorcism while syncretic Muslim communities utilize possession practices to engender mutually beneficial relationships with djinns. This thesis explores one such practice, called the jinedon, among the Mande people of southern urban Mali. In it, a healer, or jinetigi, is chosen by the djinn to receive esoteric knowledge required to appease djinns and create healing. I argue that for the Mande people, this privileged knowledge, accessible only to the jinetigi, is used to prescribe embodied rituals through which those with djinn afflictions heal and form reciprocal relationships with djinns. In Mande culture, knowledge is considered property and it is kept private to retain its potency. It is passed on in a rigid social hierarchy found in both human and human-djinn relationships, and reproduced through the jinedon. These embodied rituals hold sociocultural significance for the jinedon clients and evidence their inclusion of djinns in their social realm, such as the herbal bath, which mirrors the herbal bath in Mande wedding customs. Practices such as the jinedon retain their relevancy in the face of Western biomedicine and the pressure of reformist Muslim groups due to the widespread belief in the necessity of exclusive knowledge to treat djinn-related afflictions.
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Details
- Title
- The embodiment of privileged knowledge
- Creators
- Jessica Diane McCauley
- Contributors
- Julia Cassaniti (Chair)Jeannette-Marie Mageo (Committee Member) - Washington State University, Anthropology, Department ofPETER M. CHILSON (Committee Member) - Washington State University, English, Department of
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Anthropology, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; [Pullman, Washington] :
- Number of pages
- 77
- Identifiers
- 99900525079101842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis