Introduction

In compiling this bibliography, our aim has been to provide the researcher with an introduction to published works containing ethnographic data on, and analysis of, spirit possession and spirit mediumship in North and sub-Saharan Africa and in some Afro-American communities in the Western Hemisphere. The latter are included to the extent that they shed light on the African phenomena, their diffusion and the historical ties between the African continent and the Americas. The listings may not exhaust the subject matter, and extensive research on a particular spirit cult, ritual or ethnic group may lead the scholar beyond the sources cited in this compilation.