Risk, Mistake, and Generational Contest in Bodily Rituals of Swazi Jerikho Zionism

Abstract

This article situates an approach to ritual efficacy and risk by focusing on bodily rituals of the Swazi Zionist Jerikho church in socio-historical context. The Jerikho church distinguishes itself by the use of purgative hallucinogenics and a circular march-run, both of which are meant to invoke the embodiment of holy spirits. This article analyzes the risk inherent in the procedures of rituals and how risk manifested in two cases in 2010 and 2011, which challenged bodily and social wellbeing and ritual knowledge for both church members and the broader public. I show how harmful ritual mistakes were explained away and enveloped within co-existing systems of religious and socio-medical knowledge by way of the intergenerational social relations through which the rituals were produced. Church elders attributed mistakes to youthful incompetence, which reaffirmed the organizational and cultural practice of the Jerikho church and elided with a public moral discourse about risky youth and HIV/AIDS.

Department

Anthropology

Publication Date

9-2016

Journal Title

Journal of Contemporary Religion

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1080/13537903.2016.1206247

Document Type

Article

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS