BATUQUE SEM TAMBOR: ISLAMIZAÇÕES E INICIAÇÕES NA ILHA DE MOÇAMBIQUE

Authors

  • Helena Santos Assunção UFRJ

Abstract

This paper belongs to a research conducted in Ilha de Moçambique between 2019 and 2020, when I participated in a series of rituals generically called “batuques” in Mozambican Portuguese and, more precisely, ikoma or mwali (initiation rites) in the emakhuwa language. I attempt to describe and offer some reflections based on a rite to which I have been invited by a friend and mwali counselor, Saida Issufo. This particular rite seemed at odds with others. In contrast to the great parties with mockeries and loud expressions by the invitees, this ritual was discrete; the participants were quiet, wore hijabs, and were focused on counseling. In other words, that was a rite without climax, dance, and drums (batuque). Such contrast, allied with later conversations with Saida and other women, is the starting point for some considerations on the recent adaptations of ritual practices of makhuwa women in the north literal of Mozambique connected to the experience of the reformist Islamism locally called halissuna.

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Author Biography

Helena Santos Assunção , UFRJ

Doutoranda em Antropologia Social no Museu Nacional da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Participa do Núcleo de Antropologia Simétrica (NAnSi) no Museu Nacional. Realiza pesquisa no norte de Moçambique desde 2015. Atualmente pesquisa relações entre mulheres e espíritos (madjine) na Ilha de Moçambique.

Published

2023-07-03