Spirit Possession: An Examination of Malaysian Factory Women, West African Hauka Tribe, and the 'Holy Ghost People'
...s behind spirit possession (Stoller 1995:19). The final of the five lenses is the theatrical approach – which I believe to be the most reasonable in examining spirit possession. It is the idea that possession is a cultural performance that acts out specific social ideas, histories, and themes (Stoller 1995:20). A stage is set – either intentionally by ‘preparing’ a body with oils and clothing or by uncontrollable circumstances such as the colonization of West Africa – and the performance has a deeper significance than mere embodiment of a spirit. Because I require hard evidence of otherworldly entities possessing a human body I can only believe that the documented spirit possession we have studied in class is in fact only a theatrical performance. The “Holy Ghost People” of West Virginia, however devout in their belief of possession, displayed no evidence of being possessed by anything other than their belief. The dancing and jittering that “took over” them was not super-human by any means. Their “speaking in tongues” did not seem to be any tongue at all. Unless it is proven that what they were mumbling is or was a traceable language that they had never spoken or studied before, there was absolutely nothing to convince me of an actual spirit possession. The “Holy Ghost People” also seemed to lack any purpose in their performance. They simply gathered in a crowded room to romp around to a single guitar or to give testimonies of what God has done for them. They had little eagerness to help anyone in their community (in a room that seemed to be filled with about seventy people, barely fifty dollars had been collected for a sick parishioner) as their concern seemed to be solely focused on “becoming possessed.” Though my observation of this group of people may seem cynical, there is nothing to convince me that the state of affairs that took place in the little church in West Virginia was anything more than a means of breaking away from their mundane lifestyle. It is because they seem devoid of any significant cultural objective that the “Holy Ghost People” prove that the ritual of spirit possession can be entirely theatrical. I incorporate the example of the Holy Ghost People to prove that spirit possession is not possible no matter how hard you believe (and, boy, do they believe) and to as a scale against which to measure the social circumstances that usually precede possession gatherings. Again, as cynical as I may sound, the Holy Ghost People gather in that church so many hours a week because it is a great social gathering. There is nothing god can do for them there that he cannot do for them if they prayed at their bed side every morning and every night. Like I said before, “spirit-possession” can be a channel for other cultural drives. The line between faking and actually being possessed is blurry according to Captain Mission but the point, however, is not if they believe someone is really possessed but rather why they believe so (Taussig 1997:55). It is the social participation and ramifications of these rituals that are so important to analyze when studying cultures in crisis. Though I do not believe that Malaysian factory women, the colonized West Africans, or the fictitious characters in Tuassig’s book actually become possessed by spirits, there is a greater purpose behind the theatrics that gives value to the phenomena. The case of the Malaysian factory women can be looked at through each of the five “lenses.” Though these women were not actually possessed by a spirit, their “hysteria” is a symptom of their social circumstances. Functionally they have released a tension, they do suffer from psychological ailments, biologically they could surrender to abnormal brainwave patterns (possibly from the buzzing of their machines), symbolically they are protesting some other force, and theatrically they are putting on a good show demonstrating their strife as an urban, wage-working, female Malay in hopes that the oppressive shop owners will recognize and remedy their situation. Aihwa Ong’s Spirits of Resistance and Capitalist Discipline gives a reader enough insight to create their own conclusions about the spiritual possession of the female factory workers in Malaysia. There are many plausible circumstances that would lead to such outbreaks on the factory shop floors. It is up to the reader, however, to see past the clever guise of being possessed and read deeper into why such a phenomenon takes place. The transition from rural to urban life and new found freedom, combined with new and old restrictions that come along with the new lifestyle, is the basis for resistance or revolt. Malaysian women have experienced a drastic change of role in their communities in a relatively brief amount of time. From once being a subsistence laborer, tending her own land for herself and her family, to becoming a necessary factory worker, easily exploited by big corporations, men, and older women, the young female population has experienced a rift in where they stand as either subordinate female daughter/sister/wife and as independent wage earner (Ong 1987). In a patriarchal society such as Muslim Malaysia, a female’s life is seemingly mapped out from birth. As a young girl she would go to school and help in the household chores with her mother when she returned in the afternoon. Her number one priority was schoolwork until the age of twelve. After that point she would most likely help out on the family property tending to livestock or plantation to bring in extra cash. Whereas her brother may be encouraged to roam about near and far and seek some independence or, even, adventure, when he is young and single, she, as an unmarried pubescent girl, is carefully watched over. Monitoring her movement is considered necessary, for women are believed to be lacking in spiritual essence – a condition that makes her prone to “irrational and disruptive behavior.” (Ong 1987:87-88) By her mid-teenage years a husband may have been already selected for her (either by her parents or a hired matchmaker) and arrangements for a ceremony already in motion. After marriage, if the necessary means were available, she and her husband would purchase their own plot of land to tend for subsistence and income. If not, they would usually settle into her parents’ household with their children. With the sudden surge in wage work, especially for females, came the crack in the female Malay role. The Free Trade Zone (FTZ) and its large Japanese companies that found itself on the profitable peninsula have enjoyed the large labor pool of Malay women. As kampung life became harsher with the decreasing availability of land plots, finding earnings outside of the home became necessary. With boys remaining in school until their late teens to early twenties, young unmarried females found themselves applying for jobs at the factory gate as young as fourteen years old. They were a desired employee because they were easy to control and had quick, nimble fingers to do tedious electronic work for the major Japanese companies. In one decade the number of female factory workers rose from 1,000 to 80,000 (Ong 1987:145-46). From the earnings made outside the home, the women contributed much to their household, but also found a surplus of money to spend entirely on themselves. The extra cash either went into savings or was splurged on clothing and other “Western-pastimes” such as drinking, movies, and dancing. Many girls also moved out of their parents’ home and rented rooms close to the FTZ (Ong 1987:154). Females discovered the phenomenon of “leisure-time” and spent a good deal reveling in it. By the same token, young women also began making their own decisions regarding marriage. They courted, had ‘one-night-stands,’ and dealt with the consequences on their own. The average age of marriage was even pushed back from 19-years-old to 22-years-old (Ong 1987:134-35). Though the women found they were not as bound to male kinship rules in family life, they still found oppression and exploitation on the shop floors of the very factories where they gained their new freedom in the first place. Since there was such a large labor force in Malaysia, the female worker realized that she was quite expendable. To keep a job the worker had to be ready and willing to work in harsh conditions for poor wages and be available for overtime with little advance notice. The conditions and hours were strenuous. Unfortunately, they were not able to form a union. To walk out on strike meant lost wages for the days spent picketing or losing their job altogether. It is the mounting pressures of factory and home life with the desire to be independent, yet still subjugated by Islamic laws, that finally cause the “mass hysteria” of factory women. It begins in the middle of a factory quiet. One girl may begin sobbing or shrieking or giggling, flailing her arms about. It then seems to spread to nearby girls and one by one they are removed from the shop floor. A bomah is brought into the factory to exorcise the area so the other girls will “feel safe” from the spirits (Ong 1987:204-205,207). Factory owners and managers, however, are beginning to accept other explanation behind the hysteria. Many now look at the cause through a biological or medical lens, attributing the outbursts to empty stomachs (Ong 1987:209). I agree with that logic and also attribute the occurrences to psychological instability. There is a deep frustration in the poor working conditions and exploitation of the workers. The constant humdrum of factory life coupled with eerie sound patterns of the machines that may cause the frenzies. I would say that these girls are not actually possessed by spirits but rather find claiming to be a way of...