Spirit Possession and Trance New Interdisciplinary Perspectives

by Schmidt, Bettina E.; Huskinson, Lucy

• ISBN13: 9780826435743
• ISBN10: 0826435742
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-05-23
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

Spirit possession is a phenomenon that often elicits a response of fear, particular in those who are ignorant of its meaning and role within its particular religious and cultural traditions. Possession by divine beings (such as spirits or gods) is, however, a key practice in religions worldwide. It is therefore important to gain an understanding of this practice in its cultural context before trying to develop a wider theory about it.

Author Biography

Dr Bettina E. Schmidt is a cultural anthropologist and Senior Lecturer in the Study of Religions at Bangor University, UK. Dr. Lucy Huskinson is Lecturer in the Philosophy and Psychology of Religion at Bangor University, UK.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
Animism rather than Shamanism: New Approaches to what Shamans do (for other animists)	p. 16
Possession and Self-Possession: Towards an Integrated Mind-Body Perspective	p. 35
Spirit Possession, Seduction and Collective Consciousness	p. 53
Analytical Psychology and Spirit Possession: Towards a Non-Pathological Diagnosis of Spirit Possession	p. 71
Possessed Women in the African Diaspora: Gender Difference in Spirit Possession Rituals	p. 97
Somali Saar in the Era of Social and Religious Change	p. 117
Taking Possession of Santo Daime: The Growth of Umbanda within a Brazilian New Religion	p. 134
Spirit Attacks in Northern Namibia: Interpreting a New Phenomenon in an African Lutheran Context	p. 151
Divine Possession and Divination in the Graeco-Roman World: The Evidence from Iamblichus's On the Mysteries	p. 171
Waking the Entranced: Reassessing Spiritualist Mediumship Through a Comparison of Spiritualist and Shamanic Spirit Possession Practices	p. 186
To Perform Possession and to be Possessed in Performance: The Actor, the Medium and an 'Other'	p. 205
On the Transformation of the Spirit Possession Film: Towards Rouch as 'Emergent Method'	p. 223
Index	p. 240
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