Bargaining from Weakness: Spirit Possession on the South Kenya Coast

Abstract

Spirit possession has often been represented as a device through which the deprived and the lowly claim attention, respect and material favours. This article accepts that this is so among the Digo of Kenya but argues that in adopting such bargaining positions, Digo women reinforce the social control system which keeps them subservient to men. Parallels are drawn between the role of the possessed among the Digo and similar roles in Western societies and it is suggested that wherever people are granted privileges and remissions on the basis of their inferiority they are granted them at a high price.

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