Ilkka Pyysiäinen
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195380026
- eISBN:
- 9780199869046
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195380026.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
This book provides a cognitive scientific perspective to beliefs about supernatural agents. First, human intuitions about agents, agency, and counterintuitive concepts are outlined and explained. ...
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This book provides a cognitive scientific perspective to beliefs about supernatural agents. First, human intuitions about agents, agency, and counterintuitive concepts are outlined and explained. Second, various kinds of folk beliefs and theological doctrines about souls and spirits are analyzed in the light of the human cognitive architecture, using descriptions of spirit possession and shamanism as materials. Third, scholastic discussions of God’s cognitive capacities as well as folk-psychological God beliefs are analyzed. This analysis combines with a discussion of Buddhist ideas of soullesness and of buddhahood in textual traditions and in folk beliefs. Beliefs about God and buddhas are shown to rest on the same cognitive capacities of understanding agency and intentionality that underlie spirit beliefs. The Buddhist doctrine of soullessness was originally a denial of the self as a separate spiritual entity, not a denial of personal agency. God and buddhas differ from ordinary agents in that they are believed to have open access to all minds. Therefore, they can serve as means of representing what persons believe others to believe. Such divine minds are also used as an explanation for the fact that the whole of reality is intuitively experienced as if intentionally directed by a personal will. The book ends with a discussion of the future of religion and atheism.Less
This book provides a cognitive scientific perspective to beliefs about supernatural agents. First, human intuitions about agents, agency, and counterintuitive concepts are outlined and explained. Second, various kinds of folk beliefs and theological doctrines about souls and spirits are analyzed in the light of the human cognitive architecture, using descriptions of spirit possession and shamanism as materials. Third, scholastic discussions of God’s cognitive capacities as well as folk-psychological God beliefs are analyzed. This analysis combines with a discussion of Buddhist ideas of soullesness and of buddhahood in textual traditions and in folk beliefs. Beliefs about God and buddhas are shown to rest on the same cognitive capacities of understanding agency and intentionality that underlie spirit beliefs. The Buddhist doctrine of soullessness was originally a denial of the self as a separate spiritual entity, not a denial of personal agency. God and buddhas differ from ordinary agents in that they are believed to have open access to all minds. Therefore, they can serve as means of representing what persons believe others to believe. Such divine minds are also used as an explanation for the fact that the whole of reality is intuitively experienced as if intentionally directed by a personal will. The book ends with a discussion of the future of religion and atheism.
Susan Starr Sered
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195104677
- eISBN:
- 9780199853267
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195104677.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
Possession trance is a pivotal component in the majority of women's religions. In nine out of the twelve women's religions cited in this book, possession trance occurs either frequently or ...
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Possession trance is a pivotal component in the majority of women's religions. In nine out of the twelve women's religions cited in this book, possession trance occurs either frequently or occasionally in the context of ritual. Both male-dominated and female-dominated religions utilize techniques of dancing, swaying, spinning, drumming, meditation, and singing to induce trance. Erika Bourguignon, however, comments on one interesting gender difference. Trance—an altered state of consciousness induced by a number of well-recognized techniques and not involving possession—is reported more often for men. Possession—the belief that supernatural beings can enter human beings, that humans can temporarily become gods, spirits, demons, or ancestors—is reported more often for women. Put differently, what is more common among women is not a dissociative state known as trance, but a cultural interpretation known as spirit possession. Spirit possession, if it occurs, is rare during the rituals. In the Feminist Spirituality Movement, techniques such as meditation, dance, and chanting are used to induce altered states of consciousness, and rituals that dramatize the goddess-nature of mortal women are common.Less
Possession trance is a pivotal component in the majority of women's religions. In nine out of the twelve women's religions cited in this book, possession trance occurs either frequently or occasionally in the context of ritual. Both male-dominated and female-dominated religions utilize techniques of dancing, swaying, spinning, drumming, meditation, and singing to induce trance. Erika Bourguignon, however, comments on one interesting gender difference. Trance—an altered state of consciousness induced by a number of well-recognized techniques and not involving possession—is reported more often for men. Possession—the belief that supernatural beings can enter human beings, that humans can temporarily become gods, spirits, demons, or ancestors—is reported more often for women. Put differently, what is more common among women is not a dissociative state known as trance, but a cultural interpretation known as spirit possession. Spirit possession, if it occurs, is rare during the rituals. In the Feminist Spirituality Movement, techniques such as meditation, dance, and chanting are used to induce altered states of consciousness, and rituals that dramatize the goddess-nature of mortal women are common.
Paul Christopher Johnson
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195150582
- eISBN:
- 9780199834358
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195150589.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
Here, the religion of Candomblé is described. Candomblé is presented as a relatively stable system of meanings and practices. Johnson maps out the contour lines along which variations occur, the ...
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Here, the religion of Candomblé is described. Candomblé is presented as a relatively stable system of meanings and practices. Johnson maps out the contour lines along which variations occur, the semiotic system linking historically disparate groups of practice. The key vectors of signification described include: (1) the orixás (orishas) and the digestive metaphor of exchange, (2) Africa, “Africa” and Afro‐Brazil, (3) gender and spirit possession, (4) axé and the terreiro, and (5) Candomblé in the context of a broader Brazilian religious field of spirit‐possession religions.Less
Here, the religion of Candomblé is described. Candomblé is presented as a relatively stable system of meanings and practices. Johnson maps out the contour lines along which variations occur, the semiotic system linking historically disparate groups of practice. The key vectors of signification described include: (1) the orixás (orishas) and the digestive metaphor of exchange, (2) Africa, “Africa” and Afro‐Brazil, (3) gender and spirit possession, (4) axé and the terreiro, and (5) Candomblé in the context of a broader Brazilian religious field of spirit‐possession religions.
Anne Storch
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199768974
- eISBN:
- 9780199914425
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199768974.003.0004
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
Here, spirit languages are presented that contribute to perfect imitations and mimetic interpretations of foreigners, dominant groups, etc., by their speakers. Mimesis is also an interesting strategy ...
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Here, spirit languages are presented that contribute to perfect imitations and mimetic interpretations of foreigners, dominant groups, etc., by their speakers. Mimesis is also an interesting strategy in invented secret language in nineteenth-century colonial Africa and in Baroque sources on African narrative art and music. Here, the mimetic interpretation of the Other enables the speaker to overcome social boundaries and achieve agency, albeit in a different manner than by using secrecy as a means of gaining power. This may also include strong exclusionist tendencies, where the Other, by mimetic interpretation, for example, is characterized as having a socially marginalized, underdog position.Less
Here, spirit languages are presented that contribute to perfect imitations and mimetic interpretations of foreigners, dominant groups, etc., by their speakers. Mimesis is also an interesting strategy in invented secret language in nineteenth-century colonial Africa and in Baroque sources on African narrative art and music. Here, the mimetic interpretation of the Other enables the speaker to overcome social boundaries and achieve agency, albeit in a different manner than by using secrecy as a means of gaining power. This may also include strong exclusionist tendencies, where the Other, by mimetic interpretation, for example, is characterized as having a socially marginalized, underdog position.
Veena Das, Arthur Kleinman, Margaret Lock, Mamphela Ramphele, and Pamela Reynolds
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520223295
- eISBN:
- 9780520924857
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520223295.003.0005
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Global
This chapter deals with two interrelated issues related to supernatural activity. It first describes and places in perspective the appearance of certain narratives that illustrate two different ...
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This chapter deals with two interrelated issues related to supernatural activity. It first describes and places in perspective the appearance of certain narratives that illustrate two different categories of supernatural experiences, namely ghost stories and narratives of spirit possession. Next, it tries to understand the role some aspects of traditional spirit religion and ritual play in the context of postterror Sri Lanka. This chapter also puts in context how certain aspects in the construction of the self vary between “normal” and altered states of consciousness, and how such variations are directly connected to the victims' perceptions of revenge and justice.Less
This chapter deals with two interrelated issues related to supernatural activity. It first describes and places in perspective the appearance of certain narratives that illustrate two different categories of supernatural experiences, namely ghost stories and narratives of spirit possession. Next, it tries to understand the role some aspects of traditional spirit religion and ritual play in the context of postterror Sri Lanka. This chapter also puts in context how certain aspects in the construction of the self vary between “normal” and altered states of consciousness, and how such variations are directly connected to the victims' perceptions of revenge and justice.
Heike Behrend, Anja Dreschke, and Martin Zillinger (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780823253807
- eISBN:
- 9780823260966
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823253807.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This volume explores the interferences of trance mediums and new technical media to add a new perspective to the ongoing debates on the “renaissance of the religious” which has been challenging ...
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This volume explores the interferences of trance mediums and new technical media to add a new perspective to the ongoing debates on the “renaissance of the religious” which has been challenging narratives of modernity and its disenchantment during the last two decades. However, in these discussions the “orgiastic” or enthusiastic qualities of religiosity have been largely neglected, despite the significant increase of the use of techniques of trance and possession that can be stated on a global level. Likewise, in research on religion and media only little attention has been paid to the fact that the rise of mediumship and spirit possession is closely linked to the advance of new media of communication – both analogues and digital. To close this gap this innovative and unprecedented publication offers a wide range of recent ethnographic studies in the fields of media anthropology as well as explorations in media studies and the anthropology of religion, which provide a broad, international, comparative perspective. Based on extensive scholarship the volume includes studies on local spiritual and media practices as varied as Thailand, Korea, India, Morocco, Mali, Tanzania and Germany. The editors aim to develop a new conceptual framework for ongoing work on religion and media, at the crossroads between anthropology, religious studies, and media studies.Less
This volume explores the interferences of trance mediums and new technical media to add a new perspective to the ongoing debates on the “renaissance of the religious” which has been challenging narratives of modernity and its disenchantment during the last two decades. However, in these discussions the “orgiastic” or enthusiastic qualities of religiosity have been largely neglected, despite the significant increase of the use of techniques of trance and possession that can be stated on a global level. Likewise, in research on religion and media only little attention has been paid to the fact that the rise of mediumship and spirit possession is closely linked to the advance of new media of communication – both analogues and digital. To close this gap this innovative and unprecedented publication offers a wide range of recent ethnographic studies in the fields of media anthropology as well as explorations in media studies and the anthropology of religion, which provide a broad, international, comparative perspective. Based on extensive scholarship the volume includes studies on local spiritual and media practices as varied as Thailand, Korea, India, Morocco, Mali, Tanzania and Germany. The editors aim to develop a new conceptual framework for ongoing work on religion and media, at the crossroads between anthropology, religious studies, and media studies.
Robert M. Torrance
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520081321
- eISBN:
- 9780520920163
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520081321.003.0009
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
The literature of spirit possession repeatedly emphasizes the contrast between the convulsive spasms of the disoriented novice and the controlled trances of the authoritative medium who is no longer, ...
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The literature of spirit possession repeatedly emphasizes the contrast between the convulsive spasms of the disoriented novice and the controlled trances of the authoritative medium who is no longer, in the Afro-Brazilian distinction, an undisciplined child, but a mother or father of the god. The initial seizure is not always a call to the medium's vocation. Unexpected encounters with the wild can lead to destruction as well as mastery, and malignant possession, whether from witchcraft or random demons of the bush, may result in wasting illness, madness, or death, unless the invading spirit is exorcized or appeased. If the seizure is diagnosed as a call, moreover, the vocation to which it summons may be that of an exorcist or diviner who will not thereafter enter possession, even if inducing it in others.Less
The literature of spirit possession repeatedly emphasizes the contrast between the convulsive spasms of the disoriented novice and the controlled trances of the authoritative medium who is no longer, in the Afro-Brazilian distinction, an undisciplined child, but a mother or father of the god. The initial seizure is not always a call to the medium's vocation. Unexpected encounters with the wild can lead to destruction as well as mastery, and malignant possession, whether from witchcraft or random demons of the bush, may result in wasting illness, madness, or death, unless the invading spirit is exorcized or appeased. If the seizure is diagnosed as a call, moreover, the vocation to which it summons may be that of an exorcist or diviner who will not thereafter enter possession, even if inducing it in others.
Nancy Mandeville Caciola
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781501702617
- eISBN:
- 9781501703478
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501702617.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This chapter examines the occurrences of spirit possession in Italy and Portugal. Belief in ghostly possession was an ancient idea that is traced to classical Roman paganism. However, the form in ...
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This chapter examines the occurrences of spirit possession in Italy and Portugal. Belief in ghostly possession was an ancient idea that is traced to classical Roman paganism. However, the form in which it is encountered in Italy and Portugal appears to have coexisted with the Christian teaching that demons possessed the dead. Thus, Christian notions of spirit possession were added to earlier ideas. The possessing shades of the dead use the bodies they seize to articulate their own postmortem needs. The chapter also discusses the social implications of spirit possession. While the possessed person clearly was regarded as victimized and in need of healing, accounts of such events also often suggest a sense of compassion for the untimely dead soul, ripped too soon from life, often through violence.Less
This chapter examines the occurrences of spirit possession in Italy and Portugal. Belief in ghostly possession was an ancient idea that is traced to classical Roman paganism. However, the form in which it is encountered in Italy and Portugal appears to have coexisted with the Christian teaching that demons possessed the dead. Thus, Christian notions of spirit possession were added to earlier ideas. The possessing shades of the dead use the bodies they seize to articulate their own postmortem needs. The chapter also discusses the social implications of spirit possession. While the possessed person clearly was regarded as victimized and in need of healing, accounts of such events also often suggest a sense of compassion for the untimely dead soul, ripped too soon from life, often through violence.
Lesley Sharp
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520080010
- eISBN:
- 9780520918450
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520080010.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, African Cultural Anthropology
This finely drawn portrait of a complex, polycultural urban community in Madagascar emphasizes the role of spirit medium healers, a group heretofore seen as having little power, and whom, the book ...
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This finely drawn portrait of a complex, polycultural urban community in Madagascar emphasizes the role of spirit medium healers, a group heretofore seen as having little power, and whom, the book argues, are far from powerless among the peasants and migrant laborers who work the land in this plantation economy. In fact, the book's wide-ranging analysis shows that tromba, or spirit possession, is central to understanding the complex identities of insiders and outsiders in this community, which draws people from all over the island and abroad. This study also reveals the contradictions between indigenous healing and Western-derived Protestant healing and psychiatry. Particular attention to the significance of migrant women's and children's experiences in a context of seeking relief from personal and social ills gives the book's investigation importance for gender studies, as well as for studies in medical anthropology, Africa and Madagascar, the politics of culture, and religion and ritual.Less
This finely drawn portrait of a complex, polycultural urban community in Madagascar emphasizes the role of spirit medium healers, a group heretofore seen as having little power, and whom, the book argues, are far from powerless among the peasants and migrant laborers who work the land in this plantation economy. In fact, the book's wide-ranging analysis shows that tromba, or spirit possession, is central to understanding the complex identities of insiders and outsiders in this community, which draws people from all over the island and abroad. This study also reveals the contradictions between indigenous healing and Western-derived Protestant healing and psychiatry. Particular attention to the significance of migrant women's and children's experiences in a context of seeking relief from personal and social ills gives the book's investigation importance for gender studies, as well as for studies in medical anthropology, Africa and Madagascar, the politics of culture, and religion and ritual.
John M. Janzen
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520072657
- eISBN:
- 9780520910850
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520072657.003.0006
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Medical Anthropology
This chapter seeks to understand how knowledge is constructed and used. It then covers the application of several academic analytic evaluations of ngoma, including the role of metaphor shaping, of ...
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This chapter seeks to understand how knowledge is constructed and used. It then covers the application of several academic analytic evaluations of ngoma, including the role of metaphor shaping, of consensus, and of the range of manipulations that shape affect of sufferer and therapists alike. It then investigates the conscious indigenous theories about ngoma, which are usually based on the hypothesis of spirit possession as the basis of the misfortune. The relationship of scientific or empirical knowledge to ritual healing is covered. Spirit is a manner of speaking, a hypothesis, a format. The “spirit” hypothesis is what brings the individual experience into the orbit of ngoma. However, spirit is not what it appears to be, nor is it equally strong in all expressions.Less
This chapter seeks to understand how knowledge is constructed and used. It then covers the application of several academic analytic evaluations of ngoma, including the role of metaphor shaping, of consensus, and of the range of manipulations that shape affect of sufferer and therapists alike. It then investigates the conscious indigenous theories about ngoma, which are usually based on the hypothesis of spirit possession as the basis of the misfortune. The relationship of scientific or empirical knowledge to ritual healing is covered. Spirit is a manner of speaking, a hypothesis, a format. The “spirit” hypothesis is what brings the individual experience into the orbit of ngoma. However, spirit is not what it appears to be, nor is it equally strong in all expressions.
Anne Storch
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199768974
- eISBN:
- 9780199914425
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199768974.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
This book deals with a specific form of language change: deliberate manipulations of a language by its speakers. These manipulations are based and depending on cultural and social contexts, they are ...
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This book deals with a specific form of language change: deliberate manipulations of a language by its speakers. These manipulations are based and depending on cultural and social contexts, they are often—if not always—considered to be secret, and are at the same time expressions of difference and power. The central thesis on which the explorations of manipulated language in this book are based is that language here—deliberately diverging from the norm—is central to the construction of social norms, and that exactly by manipulation and alteration identity may be explored and defined. Manipulated language and deliberate linguistic change are thus seen as the creation of a medium through which speakers attempt to preserve certain structures. The complexity and diversity of linguistic manipulation and how it is linked to the structure of society are dealt with in this book by referring to secrecy, mimesis, sacrilege, and ambiguity as leading concepts of power. This study concentrates on case studies from the Jukun-speaking areas of Nigeria, as well as Nilotic and Bantu-speaking parts of Uganda (and to a lesser extent Sudan), but also presents data on manipulated languages from many other parts and speaker communities of the continent, as well as examples from the African diaspora.Less
This book deals with a specific form of language change: deliberate manipulations of a language by its speakers. These manipulations are based and depending on cultural and social contexts, they are often—if not always—considered to be secret, and are at the same time expressions of difference and power. The central thesis on which the explorations of manipulated language in this book are based is that language here—deliberately diverging from the norm—is central to the construction of social norms, and that exactly by manipulation and alteration identity may be explored and defined. Manipulated language and deliberate linguistic change are thus seen as the creation of a medium through which speakers attempt to preserve certain structures. The complexity and diversity of linguistic manipulation and how it is linked to the structure of society are dealt with in this book by referring to secrecy, mimesis, sacrilege, and ambiguity as leading concepts of power. This study concentrates on case studies from the Jukun-speaking areas of Nigeria, as well as Nilotic and Bantu-speaking parts of Uganda (and to a lesser extent Sudan), but also presents data on manipulated languages from many other parts and speaker communities of the continent, as well as examples from the African diaspora.
Daniel M. Wegner (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780262534925
- eISBN:
- 9780262344876
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262534925.003.0007
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
This chapter discusses the experience of losing the authorship of one's action to an imagined agent. This transformation is sufficiently bizarre that it has been something of an obsession in both the ...
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This chapter discusses the experience of losing the authorship of one's action to an imagined agent. This transformation is sufficiently bizarre that it has been something of an obsession in both the popular press and in scientific literature. Much of the liveliness of the field of anthropology, for instance, has to do with the documentation of intriguing practices of spirit possession in various cultures around the world. To confront the topic of virtual authorship, then, is to try to understand how the very seat of human agency can be transformed. The chapter examines action projection to imaginary agents of all kinds, beginning with ordinary forms of pretend play and role enactment, and proceeding to cases of channeling and mediumship, spirit possession, and dissociative identity disorder.Less
This chapter discusses the experience of losing the authorship of one's action to an imagined agent. This transformation is sufficiently bizarre that it has been something of an obsession in both the popular press and in scientific literature. Much of the liveliness of the field of anthropology, for instance, has to do with the documentation of intriguing practices of spirit possession in various cultures around the world. To confront the topic of virtual authorship, then, is to try to understand how the very seat of human agency can be transformed. The chapter examines action projection to imaginary agents of all kinds, beginning with ordinary forms of pretend play and role enactment, and proceeding to cases of channeling and mediumship, spirit possession, and dissociative identity disorder.
Carla Bellamy
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520262805
- eISBN:
- 9780520950450
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520262805.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter studies the complicated concept of the hāzirī, a central practice at Husain Tekrī. The hāzirī has both narrative and nonnarrative aspects, and is the medium where pilgrims are granted ...
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This chapter studies the complicated concept of the hāzirī, a central practice at Husain Tekrī. The hāzirī has both narrative and nonnarrative aspects, and is the medium where pilgrims are granted what is supposedly the goal of the healing process. The chapter tries to categorize the hāzirī and analyzes it as a ritual. It introduces the khulī hāzirī and spirit possession practices.Less
This chapter studies the complicated concept of the hāzirī, a central practice at Husain Tekrī. The hāzirī has both narrative and nonnarrative aspects, and is the medium where pilgrims are granted what is supposedly the goal of the healing process. The chapter tries to categorize the hāzirī and analyzes it as a ritual. It introduces the khulī hāzirī and spirit possession practices.
Lionel Laborie
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780719089886
- eISBN:
- 9781526104007
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719089886.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
Chapter 3 explores the French Prophets’ system of beliefs against the backdrop of contemporary denominations in an attempt to understand their spiritual appeal to an English audience. It explores ...
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Chapter 3 explores the French Prophets’ system of beliefs against the backdrop of contemporary denominations in an attempt to understand their spiritual appeal to an English audience. It explores England’s long millenarian tradition before the Camisards found refuge in London. Their emphasis on religious experience (spirit possession, prophecy, gift of tongues, miracles, dreams and visions) over doctrinal boundaries enabled the French Prophets, and enthusiasts more generally, to appeal to all denominations alike. Their ecumenical ambition to reconcile Judaeo-Christian denominations into a Universal Church has been misunderstood as a form of sectarianism. This chapter argues on the contrary, that enthusiasm, as a religious experience, was ecumenical and irenic, that is the opposite of religious dissent.Less
Chapter 3 explores the French Prophets’ system of beliefs against the backdrop of contemporary denominations in an attempt to understand their spiritual appeal to an English audience. It explores England’s long millenarian tradition before the Camisards found refuge in London. Their emphasis on religious experience (spirit possession, prophecy, gift of tongues, miracles, dreams and visions) over doctrinal boundaries enabled the French Prophets, and enthusiasts more generally, to appeal to all denominations alike. Their ecumenical ambition to reconcile Judaeo-Christian denominations into a Universal Church has been misunderstood as a form of sectarianism. This chapter argues on the contrary, that enthusiasm, as a religious experience, was ecumenical and irenic, that is the opposite of religious dissent.
Kalpana Ram
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824836306
- eISBN:
- 9780824871307
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824836306.003.0004
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
This chapter examines the phenomenology of emotions associated with spirit possession from the perspective of social theory by focusing on the case of Vijaya, a young bride from the coastal village ...
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This chapter examines the phenomenology of emotions associated with spirit possession from the perspective of social theory by focusing on the case of Vijaya, a young bride from the coastal village of Katalkarai Ūr in Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu. Before discussing the wider context in which Vijaya's spirit attacks occurred, the chapter considers the sociology of possession and the challenge posed by possession to a traditional conception of the individual subject. It then explores I. M. Lewis's assumption of strategic consciousness in possessed women as well as his argument that possession is “an entirely arbitrary and idiosyncratic affair.” It also explains how Vijaya's possession by phantoms is linked to untimely death and injustice, and how her aspiration for a love marriage exposed her to danger. It shows that the phantom troubles Vijaya after the death of her father and just after her elopement and marriage to her husband. The chapter concludes by describing the alliance model of sexuality and the corporeal genesis of ghosts.Less
This chapter examines the phenomenology of emotions associated with spirit possession from the perspective of social theory by focusing on the case of Vijaya, a young bride from the coastal village of Katalkarai Ūr in Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu. Before discussing the wider context in which Vijaya's spirit attacks occurred, the chapter considers the sociology of possession and the challenge posed by possession to a traditional conception of the individual subject. It then explores I. M. Lewis's assumption of strategic consciousness in possessed women as well as his argument that possession is “an entirely arbitrary and idiosyncratic affair.” It also explains how Vijaya's possession by phantoms is linked to untimely death and injustice, and how her aspiration for a love marriage exposed her to danger. It shows that the phantom troubles Vijaya after the death of her father and just after her elopement and marriage to her husband. The chapter concludes by describing the alliance model of sexuality and the corporeal genesis of ghosts.
Heike Behrend
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780823253807
- eISBN:
- 9780823260966
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823253807.003.0011
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
In the West, photography and spirit, far from being opposites, have been seen as peculiarly analogous and adapted to one another. Since the beginning of spirit photography in the 1860s, the camera, ...
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In the West, photography and spirit, far from being opposites, have been seen as peculiarly analogous and adapted to one another. Since the beginning of spirit photography in the 1860s, the camera, photographers, spirits and their mediums have built up various alliances. In contrast, spirit mediums in Africa and other parts of the world have shunned photography and refused the presence of the camera during their séances. In my contribution, I will explore the negative relationship between spirits, spirit mediums and photography in Africa, in particular on the East African Coast. This negative relation is connected not only with the political and historical specificity of spirit mediums’ ambiguous position in relation to Islam and the postcolonial state but also with characteristics of the photographic medium itself - freezing, fixation, and serialization - that seem to endanger the auratic power of spirits. While photography has been refused, video technologies have appeared to be more suitable to mediate spiritual power. In fact, in locally produced videos photography and the reasons for its refusal themselves become part of the ways in which the work of spirits and their mediums is represented.Whereas they built up alliances with various technical medias as extensions and intensifications of the capabilities of their bodies and worked out new media “utopias”, they interdicted the doubling of their bodies in photographs. This refusal raises important theoretical questions about the often assumed “innocence” or “neutrality” of Western technical media and the epistemologies they carry within them. Obviously, the “visual programm” of photography (Flusser) that always gives something “more” to see and centers on transparency may clash with other visual regimes that attempt to mediate much more secrecy and concealment.Less
In the West, photography and spirit, far from being opposites, have been seen as peculiarly analogous and adapted to one another. Since the beginning of spirit photography in the 1860s, the camera, photographers, spirits and their mediums have built up various alliances. In contrast, spirit mediums in Africa and other parts of the world have shunned photography and refused the presence of the camera during their séances. In my contribution, I will explore the negative relationship between spirits, spirit mediums and photography in Africa, in particular on the East African Coast. This negative relation is connected not only with the political and historical specificity of spirit mediums’ ambiguous position in relation to Islam and the postcolonial state but also with characteristics of the photographic medium itself - freezing, fixation, and serialization - that seem to endanger the auratic power of spirits. While photography has been refused, video technologies have appeared to be more suitable to mediate spiritual power. In fact, in locally produced videos photography and the reasons for its refusal themselves become part of the ways in which the work of spirits and their mediums is represented.Whereas they built up alliances with various technical medias as extensions and intensifications of the capabilities of their bodies and worked out new media “utopias”, they interdicted the doubling of their bodies in photographs. This refusal raises important theoretical questions about the often assumed “innocence” or “neutrality” of Western technical media and the epistemologies they carry within them. Obviously, the “visual programm” of photography (Flusser) that always gives something “more” to see and centers on transparency may clash with other visual regimes that attempt to mediate much more secrecy and concealment.
Manduhai Buyandelger
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226086552
- eISBN:
- 9780226013091
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226013091.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
When state socialism collapsed in Mongolia and the chaos of neoliberal “shock therapy” took hold, like most other herders throughout the country, the ethnic nomadic Buryats were left without means of ...
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When state socialism collapsed in Mongolia and the chaos of neoliberal “shock therapy” took hold, like most other herders throughout the country, the ethnic nomadic Buryats were left without means of livelihood on the edge of an impoverished state. Attributing their misfortunes to their ancestral origin spirits, who were suppressed during socialism but now returned to take revenge for forgetting, the Buryats sponsor shamanic rituals in hope of taming these spirits. What results is a gradually unfolding and constantly shifting history of their tragic past. This history is incomplete and unsettling as well as unsettled; acknowledging the spirits seems to allow more to erupt and provoke. Both shamans and clients seek knowledge of how to placate these spirits, much of which was lost to the socialist state’s disruption of the transmission of shamanic practice. As clients search for the most reliable shamans, shamans hustle for recognition through flamboyant rituals of spirit possession. Together they perpetuate the very practices that they aim to tame. Despite the ambiguity of shamanic powers and reality of spirits, the narratives of origin spirits assume life of their own as shamans pitch them simultaneously as communal histories and individual memories. Yet many spirits remain unknown -- with identities and voice lost -- due to centuries of violence. More, revealing the link between gender and memory, female ancestors—absent from genealogical record and forgotten --are prone to turn avaricious and haunt their descendents. Tragic Spirits documents this shamanic proliferation and its context, economics, and gendered politics.Less
When state socialism collapsed in Mongolia and the chaos of neoliberal “shock therapy” took hold, like most other herders throughout the country, the ethnic nomadic Buryats were left without means of livelihood on the edge of an impoverished state. Attributing their misfortunes to their ancestral origin spirits, who were suppressed during socialism but now returned to take revenge for forgetting, the Buryats sponsor shamanic rituals in hope of taming these spirits. What results is a gradually unfolding and constantly shifting history of their tragic past. This history is incomplete and unsettling as well as unsettled; acknowledging the spirits seems to allow more to erupt and provoke. Both shamans and clients seek knowledge of how to placate these spirits, much of which was lost to the socialist state’s disruption of the transmission of shamanic practice. As clients search for the most reliable shamans, shamans hustle for recognition through flamboyant rituals of spirit possession. Together they perpetuate the very practices that they aim to tame. Despite the ambiguity of shamanic powers and reality of spirits, the narratives of origin spirits assume life of their own as shamans pitch them simultaneously as communal histories and individual memories. Yet many spirits remain unknown -- with identities and voice lost -- due to centuries of violence. More, revealing the link between gender and memory, female ancestors—absent from genealogical record and forgotten --are prone to turn avaricious and haunt their descendents. Tragic Spirits documents this shamanic proliferation and its context, economics, and gendered politics.
Hager El Hadidi
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9789774166976
- eISBN:
- 9781617978135
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774166976.003.0002
- Subject:
- Sociology, Sociology of Religion
This chapter traces the history and origins of zar in order to elucidate how it migrated with Abyssinian slavery in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to Egypt. It lays the basis for ...
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This chapter traces the history and origins of zar in order to elucidate how it migrated with Abyssinian slavery in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to Egypt. It lays the basis for understanding zar spirit possession as practiced in Cairo from the nineteenth century until today. Following a short overview of the history and origin of zar in the Red Sea region and the reasoning behind thinking about zar in Egypt as a transnational phenomenon, the chapter discusses zar practices in Cairo based on the author's fieldwork. It also considers the relationship between zar and Islam, the zar ritual placation process, spirit afflictions and their symptoms, and the role of gender and class in zar participation. Finally, it looks at zar professionals (leaders and musicians), zar music and dance, and zar paraphernalia.Less
This chapter traces the history and origins of zar in order to elucidate how it migrated with Abyssinian slavery in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to Egypt. It lays the basis for understanding zar spirit possession as practiced in Cairo from the nineteenth century until today. Following a short overview of the history and origin of zar in the Red Sea region and the reasoning behind thinking about zar in Egypt as a transnational phenomenon, the chapter discusses zar practices in Cairo based on the author's fieldwork. It also considers the relationship between zar and Islam, the zar ritual placation process, spirit afflictions and their symptoms, and the role of gender and class in zar participation. Finally, it looks at zar professionals (leaders and musicians), zar music and dance, and zar paraphernalia.
Joel Robbins
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195324983
- eISBN:
- 9780199869398
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195324983.003.0006
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
This chapter begins with the claim that language ideologies stand in complex relationships to ideologies of material exchange. It argues that in Melanesia, contemporary changes in language ideology ...
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This chapter begins with the claim that language ideologies stand in complex relationships to ideologies of material exchange. It argues that in Melanesia, contemporary changes in language ideology have been in important respects shaped by transformations in traditional ideologies of exchange. Among the Urapmin of Papua New Guinea, such linked changes have arisen in the wake of conversion to Christianity. Changes in linguistic and exchange ideologies have come to the fore in debates over the practice of charismatic Christian rituals of Holy Spirit possession. This chapter analyzes these rituals and the debates that surround them to show how these transformations have come about.Less
This chapter begins with the claim that language ideologies stand in complex relationships to ideologies of material exchange. It argues that in Melanesia, contemporary changes in language ideology have been in important respects shaped by transformations in traditional ideologies of exchange. Among the Urapmin of Papua New Guinea, such linked changes have arisen in the wake of conversion to Christianity. Changes in linguistic and exchange ideologies have come to the fore in debates over the practice of charismatic Christian rituals of Holy Spirit possession. This chapter analyzes these rituals and the debates that surround them to show how these transformations have come about.
Jeffrey A. Trumbower
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195140996
- eISBN:
- 9780199834747
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195140990.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
The introduction looks at the posthumous salvation of non‐Christians in the nineteenth‐century American context as practiced by Shakers and Latter‐day Saints (a.k.a. Mormons), in order to set the ...
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The introduction looks at the posthumous salvation of non‐Christians in the nineteenth‐century American context as practiced by Shakers and Latter‐day Saints (a.k.a. Mormons), in order to set the stage for the study of the ancient texts. The Shakers experienced a form of spirit possession by which dead non‐Christians, especially Native Americans, would enter into the bodies of living Shakers and thereby be saved. Joseph Smith, prophet and founder of the Latter‐day Saints, introduced the ritual of vicarious baptism for the dead based on his reading of 1 Corinthians 15:29 and his encounter with the biblical prophet Elijah. This ritual is still practiced today in the LDS church.Less
The introduction looks at the posthumous salvation of non‐Christians in the nineteenth‐century American context as practiced by Shakers and Latter‐day Saints (a.k.a. Mormons), in order to set the stage for the study of the ancient texts. The Shakers experienced a form of spirit possession by which dead non‐Christians, especially Native Americans, would enter into the bodies of living Shakers and thereby be saved. Joseph Smith, prophet and founder of the Latter‐day Saints, introduced the ritual of vicarious baptism for the dead based on his reading of 1 Corinthians 15:29 and his encounter with the biblical prophet Elijah. This ritual is still practiced today in the LDS church.
