Willing the Spirits to Reveal Themselves: Rural Kenyan Mothers' Responsibility to Restore Their Children's Health

Women's contributions to the improvement and maintenance of health are being acknowledged the world over. Recent studies show that most health care is domestic and that women provide nearly 95 percent of this care. Their role as healers, nurses, doctors, folk practitioners, and lay therapists has also been recognized. This research report analyses exorcism as a special function performed by Duruma mothers on behalf of their ailing children. The women represent their children and identify the spirit(s) responsible for illnesses. This role is based on Duruma recognition of the close relationship between mothers and their children, specifically through pregnancy, lactation, and daily contact. For local people who believe in the spirit world, mothers' spirits are held to be responsible for exorcising children's illnesses. Thus health production by Duruma women goes a step further than that of women in other communities. [mothers, childhood illnesses, traditional healing, Duruma, Kenya]