Of borders and crossings: The lives of a healer in northern Mozambique
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Date
2022
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Journal of Southern African Studies
Abstract
Background: Daria Trentini�s book is a narrative exploration of the life and practice of a healer in the northern Mozambican city of Nampula. Ansha, the titular protagonist, was a Makonde migrant from the province of Cabo Delgado who moved to Nampula, converted to Islam and set up a �spirit mosque� in which the Koran and herbal knowledge were used to cure afflictions. Spirit possession (majini) was central both to illness and healing. A being of many worlds, Ansha crossed, navigated and negotiated a number of borders: between ethnicities, regions and religions; between sickness and health, the city and the countryside, the spirit and the human domain. Indeed, the figure of the border � especially the notions of �border crossing� and �border events� � provide the book with its central conceptual anchoring
Description
Keywords
Ansha, Mozambique, Border crossing, Spirit mosque, Healer
Citation
Paolo Israel. 2022. Of borders and crossings: the lives of a healer in northern Mozambique, Journal of Southern African Studies, 48:6, 1134-1135, DOI: 10.1080/03057070.2022.2175540