Stambali: Dissociative Possession and Trance in a Tunisian Healing Dance

Stambali, a Tunisian trance-dance ritual brought to Israel by Jewish-Tunisian immigrants, serves as a healing and demon exorcism practice. Based on observations and ethnographic interviews, the ritual is used for prophylaxis against the 'evil eye,' promoting well-being, and crisis intervention. Participants often interpret crises as punishment by demons, which the ritual aims to appease. Trance is induced through accelerating rhythmic music and faster head and limb movements, leading to dissociated eroticism, aggression, and convulsive loss of consciousness. The practice is discussed as a means for oppressed women with limited protest options 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.