Abstract:
The Munyoyaya women are part ofthe larger Munyoyaya people group who
inhabit the Tana River district in Kenya. They are a minority tribal group considered
to be part of the Oromo language group. They are predominantly Muslims yet steeped
in folk tendencies that are prohibited by orthodox Islam. This study attempts to
examine one aspect of these folk tendencies as practiced by the Munyoyaya women. It
seeks to understand their participation in the spirit possession cults in the Madogo
location. It also evaluates 1. M. Lewis' theory of deprivation in relation to the context
of the Munyoyaya women's participation. The study also aims at examining some
missiological ways of cross-cultural Christian witness among the Munyoyaya women.
This study is based on the cognitive anthropological perspective that is
focused on the implicit aspects of a culture. Thus to describe the implicit aspects of
the Munyoyaya women's cultural practice in the possession phenomenon,
ethnographic research design is employed as a tradition of qualitative research. Data
is collected using participant observation and ethnographic interviews with those
involved in the possession sessions.
The findings of this study reveal that the Munyoyaya women are majority of
the participants of the possession cults. They participate for various reasons that
include: economical, therapeutical, social, their pragmatic nature, spiritual and
psychological factors. These factors, especially the spiritual and psychological factors,
stem from the worldview of the Munyoyaya people that is basically
supernaturalistically oriented. This provides a comprehensive outlook to possession
cults that disprove Lewis' deprivation theory. He generally bases his theory on socioeconomical factors that attempt to explain participation in possession cults.
In view of the findings recommendations are made that aim at effective cross-cultural
Christian witness among the Munyoyaya women and Muslims in general.
There is need for worldview studies that will aim at understanding the outward
behaviors and implicit assumptions of people to be reached with the Gospel. It is also
recommended that Muslims as people be distinguished from the ideological aspect of
Islam. Lack of such a distinction has accounted for the much of the frustration
experienced in Islamic mission fields.
