LIVED EXPERIENCES OF MUSLIM WOMEN IN AFRICA : SPIRITUALITY AS PARTICIPATION IN SPIRIT POSSESSION SEANCES
Muslim-Christian Encounter March 31, 2026 Judy Wanjiru Wang’ombe
African feminism and African feminist theology provide popular theoretical frameworks for analyzing the life experiences and spirituality of African women in diverse contexts. This paper uses these two frameworks to examine the spirituality of African Muslim women, specifically describing how spirituality is expressed through the lived experiences of African Muslim women who participate in spirit possession seances in local African contexts. Both primary and secondary data are used to describe the spiritual experiences of Muslim women, analyzed through African feminist and African feminist theological lenses. The paper then suggests Christian responses to the spirituality of African Muslim women, whose worldview is deeply influenced by a syncretism of Islam and indigenous religions.