Possessing Spirits and Healing Selves

Spirit possession involves the displacement of a human's conscious self by a powerful other who temporarily occupies the human's body. Here, Seligman shows that spirit possession represents a site for understanding fundamental aspects of human experience, especially those involved with interactions among meaning, embodiment, and subjectivity.

This book offers a way to address some of the unique questions about spirit possession trance religions. Seligman offers a clear and detailed description of her innovative methodology in a special appendix which should be of interest to ethnographers in a variety of fields. I highly recommend this book to anthropologists and social scientists generally. (Patricia Barker Lerch, Nova Religion, Vol. 20 (2), 2016)

Auteur
Rebecca Seligman is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Northwestern University, USA.

Texte du rabat

Spirit possession involves the displacement of a human's conscious self by a powerful other who temporarily occupies the human's body. Here, Seligman shows that spirit possession represents a site for understanding fundamental aspects of human experience, especially those involved with interactions among meaning, embodiment, and subjectivity.

Contenu

1. Introduction: Stepping Into "This Supernatural World" of Candomblé 2. Reflections on the Challenges and Rewards of Integrative Research 3. Sometimes Affliction is the Door: Healing and Transformation in Narratives of Mediumship 4. Looking inside: Biological Mechanisms and Embodiment in Candomblé Trance and Possession 5. Healing the Embodied Self in Candomblé 6. Conclusion: Stepping Back