spirit and healing in africa - University of the Free State

who have to deal with a changing status quo, and who have to remain stable within new,
externally enforced structures of society.
Spirit possession is a very specific phenomenon that can easily be related to power as an agency
of transformation, because it is seen as an instrument of power that uses two different ways of
expression (Ter Haar 1992:128). The first type of spirit possession concerns someone being
possessed by spirits to whom a central position is accorded. These spirits are cast as authorities
of communal norms and values. Possession by these kind of spirits implies that the possessed
person affirms and consolidates the existing power structures: spirits take charge of someone
who represents (religious) authority, and this representative manifests himself as a medium of
the powerful spirits. As such there is a reciprocal relationship that maintains and safeguards
existing ideas concerning the distribution of power within a community. This kind of spirit
possession is called central possession, based on its central and open character of power
relations. The second type of spirit possession is called peripheral possession, because it
concerns people who are found in the margins of society. Peripheral possession is about
possession by spirits who do not belong to the centre of the religious arena themselves and its
core meaning is the dismissal of the claims of status quo authorities: “peripheral possession
offers a democratic channel for popular protest, since it is in principle open to all, irrespective of
status and background” (Ter Haar 1992:129).
The meaning of spirit possession within the church-based healing discourse is not merely
religious, but it also has socio-economic and political dimensions. When a restoration-seeking
believer has become possessed by the Holy Spirit (after deliverance and exorcism rituals), he or
she has become a medium of the Holy Spirit, and this condition enables him or her to move
beyond the existing and enforced structures, and to improve his or her socio-economic status.
Even from a political perspective, spirit possession can be seen as a place where resistance is
channeled, or as a legitimate condition allowing for political and economic claims against the
existing, ruling authorities. There are ample examples of spiritual mediums gaining influence in
the political management of a country, such as Mary Akatsa in Kenya, Alice Lakwena in Uganda
and Alice Lenshina in Zambia.
Ecclesiological transformation
The concept of power also plays an important role as an instrument of change within the church
itself. The church is the site where great value is attached to the power of the Spirit (even though
there are obvious differences in this matter between PCCs and missionary-founded churches). In
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