Gendered Spiritual Healing: A Case of the Johane Masowe Echishanu Church
摘要
This chapter is an exploratory study of the gendered performative rituals and healing spaces of the Johanne Masowe Chishanu Church (JMCC). This study examines the participatory dynamics of men and women within the healing practices of the JMCC through the lens of narrativised “sharings”. It critically examines the structural practices intertwined with the healing processes. While the church has been documented, a contextual analysis of the gendered roles associated with the spiritual healing rituals of the JMCC is, arguably, scant. In this study, an intimate purposive convenience sample of 10 healers (five females and five males) and ten so-called lay individuals who sought healing at the JMCC, were interviewed. Data collection was supplemented and triangulated through immersive observation of church services and communal healing sessions of the JMCC. Based on sustained participant observations and iterative interviews over 12 months, the paper shows that what emerges as discrimination against women in the JMCC is a result of a tightly braided nexus of gender, religion, stigma, and deeply entrenched patriarchal norms that translate into religious spaces and manifest as female marginalisation. Findings suggest that the participation and involvement of females as healers and practitioners in JMCC remain rooted in patriarchal structures that exclude and marginalise women. In the ethnographic engagements, it was observed that the spectrum of spiritual healing rituals is gendered, including spirit possessions, musical performances associated with healing, and healer-patient relationships. The study concludes that female healers’ experiences, complex identities, situated knowledge, and strengths are muted, (re)producing a culture underpinned by control and domination.