Spirit possession: five models of interpretation

1. Functionalist
-reveals underlying frictions in social structure, gender inequalities, socio-economic inequalities --> enables people to vent frustrations arising from marginality through possession, and especially mediumship, which may offer brief social prestige
-often mobilised in feminist scholarship about the domination of SP cults and mediumship by women, especially to cure fertility problems
-criticisms of this model: places too much emphasis on Western categories of gender relations and oppression, ignores personal motives for engaging with SP

2. Psychoanalytic 
-unlike functionalists who focus on social structure, this approach considers the psychodynamic of the medium
-pre-possession malady is what we would consider in the West to be a psychotic episode, which is treated through initiation into the possession cult --> i.e. SP is cathartic
-criticisms: fails to address social, cultural or historic aspects of SP; focuses too much on the individual; psychoanalysis is a Western model that is not relevant to African setting

3. Biological/ physiological 
-focus on the trance state
-suggests that SP alters brainwaves
-emphasises the role of music in inducing the trance
-some scholars argue that trance state is a result of calcium deficiency
-criticisms: completely ignores the social/psychological aspects of SP

4. Symbolic 
-SP is a form of intellectual communication
-it is a text that represents cultural knowledge and transmits culturally significant information to an audience
-moves away from the focus on analysing the medium, as with previous models, and looks instead at the importance of the message of the spirits for the audience
-criticisms: too much emphasis on SP as a ‘text’ (i.e., reading too much into it!); ignores social/psychological factors in order to privilege the cultural

5. Theatrical/ performative
-SP is a form of cultural theatre
-mediums are actors, musicians are orchestras, spirit recitations are scripts
-criticisms: completely overlooks the social and psychological dimensions