Stambali: Dissociative Possession and Trance in a Tunisian Healing Dance

Summary

Jewish-Tunisian immigrants in Israel practice Stambali, a trance-dance ritual, for healing and demon exorcism. The ritual serves prophylactic purposes, such as repelling the 'evil eye,' promoting well-being, and providing crisis intervention. Crisis is interpreted as punishment by demons, and the ritual aims to appease them through kinetic trance induced by ascending music tempo and increased movement. The experience involves dissociated eroticism and aggression, ending in convulsive loss of consciousness. Stambali is discussed as a way for oppressed women to externalize and disown intrapsychic conflicts.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This study investigated Stambali, a Tunisian trance-dance practiced in Israel as a healing and a demon exorcism ritual by Jewish-Tunisian immigrants. The authors observed the ritual and conducted semi-structured ethnographic interviews with key informants. Content analysis revealed that Stambali is practiced for prophylactic reasons (e.g. repelling the ‘evil eye’), for the promotion of personal well-being, and as a form of crisis intervention. Crisis was often construed by our informants as the punitive action of demons, and the ritual aimed at appeasing them. Communication with the possessing demons was facilitated through a kinetic trance induction, produced by an ascending tempo of rhythmic music and a corresponding increased speed of the participant’s movements of head and extremities. The experience was characterized by the emergence of dissociated eroticism and aggression, and terminated in a convulsive loss of consciousness. Stambali is discussed in terms of externalization and disowning of intrapsychic conflicts by oppressed women with few options for protest.