Bori Spirit Possession in Hausa Communities

Record summary

Bori is a Hausa-associated spirit-possession and healing complex involving mediums, named spirits, music, costume, diagnosis and therapeutic performance. It matters for comparison because transformation of identity and bodily comportment is enacted publicly, while practitioners negotiate Islamic, local and colonial interpretations. Historical sources include colonial reports and anthropological studies, with substantial regional variation. “Bori” can refer to overlapping but nonidentical practices, and possession language may describe culturally organized performance, illness, agency or religious experience rather than a single ontological claim.