Thread: The meaning of Zar Trance

I contribute to a fairly eclectic discussion website where I posted up this essay on my (non-traditional) ideas of what a zar is for.

Hope it's of interest.

http://www.eurotrib.com/story/2007/8/17/113318/274

It's a very interesting comparison. Having just finished reading Janice Boddy's Wombs and Alien Spirits, I would have to disagree that the zar is poorly documented--her book is chock full of detail and documentation, and she draws on the observations of other researchers as well. But I'm not sure I would have been able to get through the book had I not been trained in anthropology, so perhaps it would be accurate to say the zar is not accessibly documented.

One of the conclusions that really stuck with me from her book was that the women participating in the zar are using it to comment on their places not only in the village but also in the world. Possession by the other is a way of defining the self, because the other and its behavior stands in stark contrast to the self. I liked her conclusion that you could almost see the panoply of zar spirits as a form of anthropology in the Sudan, a means of cataloging and studying the different peoples of the known world. I'm not exactly sure how that would fit in with your thesis, except that maybe the young rocker (or punk, or whatever) is also searching for the self through its immolation in the music, driven by similar physical movements that are likely to induce trance.

Loads of food for thought...

Waldim,
I read your article and it's pretty much right on the mark. The little details are for the afficianados to squabble over since I know you're not hard core into scholastics but rather addressing the experiential qualities and comparisons of trance therapy vs. sports therapy. Good article. I like your writing style.

~*Genisis*~

Originally Posted by Genisis

Waldim,
I read your article and it's pretty much right on the mark. ..... Good article. I like your writing style.

~*Genisis*~

thank you

Helen, you wrote my very thoughts!

I was very much into "freaking out" in my teens. I would often go home from school, put on Cream, Led Zeppelin or one of many others and just let loose ... especially with the head. It was during those times that I would begin to feel myself leaving my body, but I'd get scared and stop it. Dancing in general is very therapeutic for me, though. I find it releases or at least temporarily makes me forget frustrations, and although head tossing is the only thing that puts me in that "state", I find I don't need to go that far for a release.

I do feel that the years of head tossing really strengthened my neck, however. It's an aside benefit, in that doing similar movements in raks feels quite natural and is possibly less dangerous than it would be for someone who'd never done it before.

Originally Posted by vilia

I do feel that the years of head tossing really strengthened my neck, however.

Hee, for myself I think I did it with a little too much vigour. I have to be quite careful these days as I get a (v slight) grinding sensation if I push my luck with neck movements. Khaleegi head tossing has to be pretty gentle for me these days.