The problem of belief: Evans-Pritchard and Victor Turner on "the inner life."

Abstract

Between 1993 and 1999 I spent 17 months in Zimbabwe studying the Johane Masowe Church, an African religious movement with roots in the Makoni District stretching back to the early 1930s. Like most other African independent churches, the Masowe Church lays great stress on spiritual healing, the eradication of witchcraft, and possession by the Holy Spirit (see Sundkler 1961, Comaroff 1985, Hoehler-Fatton 1996, Muller 1999). During the course of my fieldwork there were a number of instances in which these 'other-worldly' activities forced me to think about the connection between fieldwork methods and religious beliefs