Black Spirits, White Saints: Sub-Saharan Music, Spirit Possession and the Geo-Cultural Imagination in North Africa

In Tunisia, descendants of slaves, migrants, pilgrims, and other members of the sub¬ Saharan diaspora developed a healing music called stambeli. From without, stambeli is understood as 'African', meaning non-Tunisian, sub-Saharan, and other. From within, however, stambeli ritually negotiates the encounter between sub-Saharan and North Africa's by invoking Black Spirits (sub-Saharan) and White Saints (North African), who heal and make their presence known through ritualised trance.
My research will finalise my ethno musicological fieldwork on stambeli in order to complete a monograph on music, spirit possession, and the geo-cultural imagination in North Africa, and to produce the first audio recordings of stambeli.