The Spirit’s Wish: Possession Trance and Female Power among the Punu of Congo-Brazzaville

Among the rural Punu of Congo-Brazzaville, possession trance is central to women's celebrations for water spirits (bayisi). The spirits communicate wishes through possession, conditioning their willingness to ensure community well-being. Possession requires an 'opening of the mind' activated by collective song-dance mimicking water's flowing motions and expressing longing for a maternal universe. Critiquing the common use of 'agency' to mean autonomy and resistance, this paper adopts a context-based view grounded in how actors experience possession. It argues that receptivity, in its ambivalent link to suffering, is the main source of power these possessions grant to women.

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Abstract

Abstract Among the rural Punu of Congo-Brazzaville, possession trance is an essential part of the mainly female celebrations dedicated to the bayisi or water spirits. It is a privileged medium through which these spirits reveal their wishes and conditions their willingness to assure the community’s well-being. On the human side, in order to be possessed an ‘opening of the mind’ is requested and needs to be activated through collective song-dance performances that recall the flowing motions of the spirits’ water world and convey the longing for this maternal universe. As a critique of the predominant use of the term ‘agency’ in reference to autonomy and resistance, this paper adheres to a context-based view that relies on the way the actors experience the phenomenon. In line with the Punu reality this paper considers receptivity, in its ambivalent link to suffering, as the main source of the power these possessions grant to women.