There is a tendency within the study of Islam to prioritize religious ideology over the lived experiences of ordinary Muslims. While affirming the significance of such ideology, Dr. Judy Wanjiru Wang’ombe suggests that it is equally important to understand how Islamic teachings are actually lived out within Muslim communities. Utilizing a cognitive anthropological framework and drawing from qualitative field data, this study examines the phenomenon of spirit possession as experienced by Borana Muslims in Marsabit County, Kenya. Dr. Wang’ombe analyzes the practices and beliefs of the Ayyaana possession cult in light of stipulations provided by official Islamic texts, specifically the Qur’an and Hadith as taught by their Muslim teachers, and explores the prominent gaps that often exist between tenet and practice. An excellent resource for scholars and practitioners alike, this study enhances anthropological understanding of contextual Islam as practiced in East Africa, while offering insight into local perspectives on the spirit world.
Oh Memory, You Unlocked Cabinet of Amazements! is a paean to the author's mid-twentieth century Bronx childhood as the sole offspring of warmly loving-if sometimes provincial, overprotective, or embarrassing-immigrant parents. It is also about the wonder of lifelong memory itself, of how the past continually offers itself up as a field to contemplate, a field of rediscovery and new discovery of one's native landscape, and of the actions, rituals, and language-with all their redolence and significance-of those long gone whom one still loves.
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