Trance and the Semiotic Body: An Analysis of Gnaoua Possession Rituals in Morocco
International Journal of Scientific Research and Innovative Studies December 1, 2025 Lahcen Oukhouya ALI
The body of a person in trance during Gnaoua possession rituals in Morocco acts as a complex semiotic text that communicates between the visible world and the invisible world of spirits (mluk). Gestures, colors, musical rhythms, and ritual scents form a coded system of meaning that can be deciphered to reveal the deep grammar of the lila ritual. Drawing on Peircean semiotics, Marcel Mauss's bodily techniques, and ethnographic observations, the analysis shows that the possessed body—whether a maalem or an initiate—serves as a mediating semiotic operator. This approach renews the study of possession rituals in North Africa by integrating contemporary semiotic tools.