Papers by Giulia Cavallo
Etnográfica, 2024
In 2016, three years after completing my Ph.D., I embarked on my first attempt to translate my et... more In 2016, three years after completing my Ph.D., I embarked on my first attempt to translate my ethnographic research conducted in Maputo, among the Zion communities, into a graphic language. Through a series of single illustrations, I aimed to visually condense key stages of the Zion healing path, synthesizing various stories and testimonies into individual images. This approach sought to encapsulate the symbolic and material universe of Zion within a graphic framework.
Over the past few years, I have periodically revisited and refined these drawings in a cyclical process of creation and reflection. The illustrations presented in this article thus serve as a retrospective of this journey – an artistic exploration that emerged following the completion of my ethnographic dissertation. These drawings were created as a post-fieldwork representational language, reflecting memories from the field, testimonies collected, and personal experiences lived in between.
Allegra Lab, 2020
For the Fluid Mosaic project she produced a text that is based on her doctoral thesis and her dra... more For the Fluid Mosaic project she produced a text that is based on her doctoral thesis and her drawing practice. Cavallo's contribution teaches us about the spiritual healing practices in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. She explains the act of healing as a possibility to open individual "paths" that got closed. In the fluid mosaic model, these "paths" can be thought of in association with membranes. In animals' cells there is a bidirectional communication between the
On drawing and ethnography
In this paper I will analyze the healing practices of the different churches I observed during my... more In this paper I will analyze the healing practices of the different churches I observed during my fieldwork in 2010, that took place in the Zion Church in Maputo and Matola. Zion Church, classified as AIC, African Independent Church, is a transnational phenomenon that spread in South Africa at the beginning of 20th century by the action of North-American missionaries.
The Zion church was introduced in Mozambique by the local workers returned from the South African mines during the colonial period, but its diffusion in the country became considerable after the economic liberalization of the 80’s and, especially, after the end of the civil war in 1992.
Nowadays, the Zion church, whose principal characteristic is that of healing and exorcising evil spirits through the Holy Ghost’s force, is one of the most popular religious movements in southern Mozambique, although it is often depicted as the religion of the marginalized people.
In Maputo, Zion church is a heterogenic reality; each church has, in fact, its peculiar way of healing and bargaining with spirits. Being a ‘Zion’ implies different ways of experiencing the world, coping with spirits, reworking the past, and interpreting local cosmologies. In fact, the Holy Ghost is just one of the many healing spirits helping people to restore their life.
I will discuss how church members, leaders, prophets and patients come to terms with affliction, interpreting it and manipulating the world of the ancestors and spirits.
Thereafter, I will show how the healing process among Zion Church is a long negotiation of meanings between prophets and patients, through which they attempt to manage and, at the same time, exploit a “heathen” past. This memory of the past, embodied in evil spirits, is experienced as a dangerous legacy which may threaten people life, provoking poverty and family problems.
Finally, by presenting the life story of two woman prophetess - pastors, I will discuss how women play a relevant role in the churches and how they usually lead not only the healing processes, but the whole community church, subverting the general idea of a hierarchy based on the power of men.
Thesis by Giulia Cavallo
Papers Presented by Giulia Cavallo
Conference Presentations by Giulia Cavallo
The Zion churches, classified as AIC, are part of a transnational phenomenon that spread in South... more The Zion churches, classified as AIC, are part of a transnational phenomenon that spread in South Africa at the beginning of 20th century by the action of North-American missionaries.
In Mozambique, the “Work of Zion” was introduced by the local workers returned from the South African mines during the colonial period, but its diffusion in the country became considerable after the economic liberalization of the 80’s and, especially, after the end of the civil war in 1992. Nowadays, the Zion churches, whose principal characteristic is the spiritual healing through the prophets’ work, represent one of the most popular religious movements in southern Mozambique.
In this paper I will show how the complex local spiritual world is reshaped among some Zion churches in Maputo and Matola, Southern Mozambique.
In Southern Africa the missionary work introduced a dichotomist vision about spiritual forces, in which all the “heathen” spirits, especially those that cause possession, were considered evil and classified as “demons”. Despite the missionary influence, especially in the lexicon, the Zion churches which I worked with in Maputo and Matola reformulate every day, through the performance of their healing practices, the local perception of evil, which is much more fluid and connected to the logic of kinship allegiances. In this way, among the Zion churches the meaning of “mademonio” and “angels” is quite different than the one introduced by the missionaries and this linguistic ambiguity represented the major challenge for my work.
Books by Giulia Cavallo
Book chapter in Sofrimento psíquico e linguagens da cura em Moçambique Edited by Francesco Vacchiano, 2023
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Papers by Giulia Cavallo
Over the past few years, I have periodically revisited and refined these drawings in a cyclical process of creation and reflection. The illustrations presented in this article thus serve as a retrospective of this journey – an artistic exploration that emerged following the completion of my ethnographic dissertation. These drawings were created as a post-fieldwork representational language, reflecting memories from the field, testimonies collected, and personal experiences lived in between.
The Zion church was introduced in Mozambique by the local workers returned from the South African mines during the colonial period, but its diffusion in the country became considerable after the economic liberalization of the 80’s and, especially, after the end of the civil war in 1992.
Nowadays, the Zion church, whose principal characteristic is that of healing and exorcising evil spirits through the Holy Ghost’s force, is one of the most popular religious movements in southern Mozambique, although it is often depicted as the religion of the marginalized people.
In Maputo, Zion church is a heterogenic reality; each church has, in fact, its peculiar way of healing and bargaining with spirits. Being a ‘Zion’ implies different ways of experiencing the world, coping with spirits, reworking the past, and interpreting local cosmologies. In fact, the Holy Ghost is just one of the many healing spirits helping people to restore their life.
I will discuss how church members, leaders, prophets and patients come to terms with affliction, interpreting it and manipulating the world of the ancestors and spirits.
Thereafter, I will show how the healing process among Zion Church is a long negotiation of meanings between prophets and patients, through which they attempt to manage and, at the same time, exploit a “heathen” past. This memory of the past, embodied in evil spirits, is experienced as a dangerous legacy which may threaten people life, provoking poverty and family problems.
Finally, by presenting the life story of two woman prophetess - pastors, I will discuss how women play a relevant role in the churches and how they usually lead not only the healing processes, but the whole community church, subverting the general idea of a hierarchy based on the power of men.
Thesis by Giulia Cavallo
Papers Presented by Giulia Cavallo
Conference Presentations by Giulia Cavallo
In Mozambique, the “Work of Zion” was introduced by the local workers returned from the South African mines during the colonial period, but its diffusion in the country became considerable after the economic liberalization of the 80’s and, especially, after the end of the civil war in 1992. Nowadays, the Zion churches, whose principal characteristic is the spiritual healing through the prophets’ work, represent one of the most popular religious movements in southern Mozambique.
In this paper I will show how the complex local spiritual world is reshaped among some Zion churches in Maputo and Matola, Southern Mozambique.
In Southern Africa the missionary work introduced a dichotomist vision about spiritual forces, in which all the “heathen” spirits, especially those that cause possession, were considered evil and classified as “demons”. Despite the missionary influence, especially in the lexicon, the Zion churches which I worked with in Maputo and Matola reformulate every day, through the performance of their healing practices, the local perception of evil, which is much more fluid and connected to the logic of kinship allegiances. In this way, among the Zion churches the meaning of “mademonio” and “angels” is quite different than the one introduced by the missionaries and this linguistic ambiguity represented the major challenge for my work.
Books by Giulia Cavallo
Over the past few years, I have periodically revisited and refined these drawings in a cyclical process of creation and reflection. The illustrations presented in this article thus serve as a retrospective of this journey – an artistic exploration that emerged following the completion of my ethnographic dissertation. These drawings were created as a post-fieldwork representational language, reflecting memories from the field, testimonies collected, and personal experiences lived in between.
The Zion church was introduced in Mozambique by the local workers returned from the South African mines during the colonial period, but its diffusion in the country became considerable after the economic liberalization of the 80’s and, especially, after the end of the civil war in 1992.
Nowadays, the Zion church, whose principal characteristic is that of healing and exorcising evil spirits through the Holy Ghost’s force, is one of the most popular religious movements in southern Mozambique, although it is often depicted as the religion of the marginalized people.
In Maputo, Zion church is a heterogenic reality; each church has, in fact, its peculiar way of healing and bargaining with spirits. Being a ‘Zion’ implies different ways of experiencing the world, coping with spirits, reworking the past, and interpreting local cosmologies. In fact, the Holy Ghost is just one of the many healing spirits helping people to restore their life.
I will discuss how church members, leaders, prophets and patients come to terms with affliction, interpreting it and manipulating the world of the ancestors and spirits.
Thereafter, I will show how the healing process among Zion Church is a long negotiation of meanings between prophets and patients, through which they attempt to manage and, at the same time, exploit a “heathen” past. This memory of the past, embodied in evil spirits, is experienced as a dangerous legacy which may threaten people life, provoking poverty and family problems.
Finally, by presenting the life story of two woman prophetess - pastors, I will discuss how women play a relevant role in the churches and how they usually lead not only the healing processes, but the whole community church, subverting the general idea of a hierarchy based on the power of men.
In Mozambique, the “Work of Zion” was introduced by the local workers returned from the South African mines during the colonial period, but its diffusion in the country became considerable after the economic liberalization of the 80’s and, especially, after the end of the civil war in 1992. Nowadays, the Zion churches, whose principal characteristic is the spiritual healing through the prophets’ work, represent one of the most popular religious movements in southern Mozambique.
In this paper I will show how the complex local spiritual world is reshaped among some Zion churches in Maputo and Matola, Southern Mozambique.
In Southern Africa the missionary work introduced a dichotomist vision about spiritual forces, in which all the “heathen” spirits, especially those that cause possession, were considered evil and classified as “demons”. Despite the missionary influence, especially in the lexicon, the Zion churches which I worked with in Maputo and Matola reformulate every day, through the performance of their healing practices, the local perception of evil, which is much more fluid and connected to the logic of kinship allegiances. In this way, among the Zion churches the meaning of “mademonio” and “angels” is quite different than the one introduced by the missionaries and this linguistic ambiguity represented the major challenge for my work.