Memory and Alterity in Zar: Religious Contact and Change in the Sudan

Zar spirit possession in Sudan today is grounded in rituals derived from the ranks of the nineteenth-century Ottoman army, based on long-term ethnographic research in Sennar supported by life history data and archival documentation. The practice has accommodated ongoing changes linked to the interplay of Zar with Islam and Christianity. During colonial periods, European Christian Zar spirits were remembered as far more important; today authority has shifted to spirits of foreign Muslims, local holy men, and subaltern Blacks, reflecting concerns of new generations as political and religious landscapes transform.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Drawing on long-term ethnographic research in the Blue Nile town of Sennar, supported by archival and historical documentation, this article explores the history of Zar spirit possession in Sudan, and the light this throws on the interplay of religions over the past 150 years. Life history data supports the argument that contemporary Zar is grounded in forms and rituals derived from the ranks of the ninteenth-century Ottoman army, and these remain the basis of ritual events, even as they accommodate ongoing changes in this part of Africa. Many of these changes are linked to the dynamic interplay of Zar with forms of Islam, on the one hand, and Christianity, on the other. In the former colonial periods, political power resided with the British, and Khawaja (European) Christian Zar spirits are remembered as far more important. Today that authority in Zar has shifted to spirits of foreign Muslims and local holy men, on the one hand, and to subaltern Blacks, on the other. These speak to concerns of new generations of adepts even as changes in the larger political and religious landscapes continue to transform the context of Zar.