Not so "Traditional" Healing: Constructions of Illness Reality and Spirit Possession in a Rapidly Changing Society in Venda, South Africa
Abstract
The present thesis aims to analyze socio-cultural and political aspects of ´traditional´ healing which had been the focus of fieldwork of the author in ´Venda´, South Africa. In the first section of the thesis the author has shown that the medical concepts and symbols marked as ´traditional´ have not formed a closed, time-less system.
The second section of the thesis has focussed on the phenomenon of ancestor spirit possession which has also constituted the means through which ´traditional´ healers have been recruited and their claims to knowledge and healing power have been legitimized.