Spirit Possession And Communication In Religious And Cultural Contexts

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Spirit Possession and Communication in Religious and Cultural Contexts

Author : Caroline Blyth
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 179 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2020-11-29
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781000290110

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Spirit Possession and Communication in Religious and Cultural Contexts by Caroline Blyth Pdf

Spirit Possession and Communication in Religious and Cultural Contexts explores the phenomenon of spirit possession, focusing on the religious and cultural functions it serves as a means of communication. Drawing on the multidisciplinary expertise of philosophers, anthropologists, historians, linguists, and scholars of religion and the Bible, the volume investigates the ways that spirit possession narratives, events, and rituals are often interwoven around communicative acts, both between spiritual and earthly realms and between members of a community. This book offers fresh insight into the enduring cultural and religious significance of spirit possession. It will be an important resource for scholars from a diverse range of disciplines, including religion, anthropology, history, linguistics, and philosophy.

Spirit Possession

Author : Éva Pócs,András Zempléni
Publisher : Central European University Press
Page : 556 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2022-05-31
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9789633864142

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Spirit Possession by Éva Pócs,András Zempléni Pdf

Possession, a seemingly irrational phenomenon, has posed challenges to generations of scholars rooted in Western notions of body-soul dualism, self and personhood, and a whole set of presuppositions inherited from Christian models of possession that was “good” or “bad.” The authors of the essays in this book present a new and more promising approach. They conceive spirit possession as a form of communication, of expressivity, of culturally defined behavior that should be understood in the context of local, vernacular theories and empiric reflections. With the aim of reformulating the comparative anthropology of spirit possession, the editors have opened corridors between previously separate areas of research. Together, anthropologists and historians working on several historical periods and in different European, African, South American, and Asian cultural areas attempt to redefine the very concept of possession, freeing it from the Western notion of the self and more clearly delineating it from related matters such as witchcraft, devotion, or mysticism. The book also provides an overview of new research directions, including novel methods of participant observation and approaches to spirit possession as indigenous historiography

Communicating with the Spirits

Author : G bor Klaniczay,?va P¢cs
Publisher : Central European University Press
Page : 308 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 2005-01-01
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9637326138

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Communicating with the Spirits by G bor Klaniczay,?va P¢cs Pdf

Focuses on the problem of communication with the other world: the phenomenon of spirit possession and its changing historical interpretations, the imaginary schemes elaborated for giving accounts of the journeys to the other world, for communicating with the dead, and finally the historical archetypes of this kind of religious manifestation-trance prophecy, divination, and shamanism. Recognized historians and ethnologists analyze the relationship, coexistence and conflicts of popular belief systems, Judeo-Christian mythology and demonology in medieval and modern Europe. The essays address links between rites and beliefs, folklore and literature; the legacy of various pre-Christian mythologies; the syncretic forms of ancient, medieval and modern belief- and rite-systems; "pure" examples from religious-ethnological research outside Europe to elucidate European problems.

Spirit Possession and Trance

Author : Bettina E. Schmidt,Lucy Huskinson
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 246 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2010
Category : Altered states of consciousness
ISBN : 1472549368

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Spirit Possession and Trance by Bettina E. Schmidt,Lucy Huskinson Pdf

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. This fascinating book contains several case studies that present new interpretations of spirit possession worldwide. The authors show the diversity of possi.

Spirits in Culture, History and Mind

Author : Jeannette Mageo,Alan Howard
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 281 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 2012-12-06
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN : 9781136758539

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Spirits in Culture, History and Mind by Jeannette Mageo,Alan Howard Pdf

Spirits in Culture, History and Mind reintegrates spirits into comparative theories of religion, which have tended to focus on institutionalized forms of belief associated with gods. It brings an historical perspective to culturally patterned experiences with spirits, and examines spirits as a locus of tension between traditional and foreign values. Taking as a point of departure shifting local views of self, nine case studies drawn from Pacific societies analyze religious phenomena at the intersection of social, psychological and historical processes. The varied approaches taken in these case studies provide a richness of perspective, with each lens illuminating different aspects of spirit-related experience. All, however, bring a sense of historical process to bear on psychological and symbolic approaches to religion, shedding new light on the ways spirits relate to other cultural phenomena.

Spirit Possession, Modernity & Power in Africa

Author : Heike Behrend
Publisher : Univ of Wisconsin Press
Page : 198 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 1999
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN : 0299166341

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Spirit Possession, Modernity & Power in Africa by Heike Behrend Pdf

In Africa as well as in Europe, many spirits and their mediums are part of local as well as global cultures. Christian spirits named Hitler, Mussolini, or King Bruce (Bruce Lee) flourish in a pantheon of new holy spirits in Uganda waging war against the government. Spirits of airplanes, engines, guitars, and angels are found in Central Africa; and thunder, snakes, and rain as well as playboys and prostitutes inhabit the spirit world in West Africa. Spirit possession cults have continued to proliferate, even in the secular West, and continue to be a subject of intense interest. Despite the continuous expansion of the field, some problems are only now beginning to be explored. The experts in this volume focus on questions of power, the history and inner dynamics of cults, the role of gender and images of the other, based on research conducted during the last fifteen years in Africa. The contributors document changes taking place across the continent as possession beliefs and practices respond to new circumstances and address the shifting local implications of an increasingly global socio-economy. Gender, ethnicity, and class are examined as intersecting forces and features of spirit phenomena. The case studies presented are richly contextualized: history, social organization and upheaval, alternative religious options--all are considered relevant to an understanding of possession forms. Contributors: Leslie Sharp, Heike Behrend, Adeline Masquelier, Mathias Krings, Jean-Paul Colleyn, Alexandra O. de Sousa, Susan Kenyon, Tobias Wendl, Ute Luig, and Linda Giles Co-published with James Currey Publishers, U.K. The Wisconsin edition is not for sale in the United Kingdon, the traditional British Commonwealth (excepting Canada), nor in Europe.

Spirit Possession around the World

Author : Joseph P. Laycock
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Page : 464 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2015-05-26
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN : 9798216147909

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Spirit Possession around the World by Joseph P. Laycock Pdf

This book provides a fascinating historical and cultural overview of traditional beliefs about spirit possession and exorcism around the world, from Europe to Asia and the Middle East to the Americas. Possession and exorcism are elements that occur in nearly every culture. Why is belief in spiritual possession so universal? This accessible reference volume offers a broad sample of the traditions and cultures involving possession and exorcism, presenting thoughts on this widely popular topic by experts from the fields of anthropology, sociology, religious studies, history, neuroscience, forensics, and theology. The entries cover the subject of possession and exorcism across all inhabited continents, from the Bronze Age to the 21st century, providing information that is accessible and intriguing as well as scholarly and authoritative. Beyond addressing the Christian tradition of possession and exorcism, Pentecostalism, and "New Age" and less widely known Western concepts about possession and exorcism, this work examines ideas about possession and exorcism from other world religions and the indigenous cultures of Asia, Africa, and the Americas. It also covers historic cases of possession and presents biographies of famous theologians, exorcists, and possessed individuals. High school and undergraduate readers will learn about world history, religious and spiritual traditions, and world cultures through a topic that figures prominently in popular culture and modern entertainment. Bibliographies that accompany each entry as well as a selected, general bibliography serve to help students locate print and electronic sources of additional information.

Ecstatic Religion

Author : I.M. Lewis
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 211 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 2002-12-12
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN : 9781134406609

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Ecstatic Religion by I.M. Lewis Pdf

First Published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The Mind Possessed

Author : Emma Cohen
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2007-08-09
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780190295820

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The Mind Possessed by Emma Cohen Pdf

The cognitive science of religion has made a persuasive case for the view that a number of different psychological systems are involved in the construction and transmission of notions of extranatural agency such as deities and spirits. Until now this work has been based largely on findings in experimental psychology, illustrated mainly with hypothetical or anecdotal examples. In The Mind Possessed, Emma Cohen considers how the psychological systems undergirding spirit concepts are activated in real-world settings. Spirit possession practices have long had a magnetizing effect on academic researchers but there have been few, if any, satisfactory theoretical treatments of spirit possession that attempt to account for its emergence and spread globally. Drawing on ethnographic data collected during eighteen months of fieldwork in Belém, northern Brazil, Cohen combines fine-grained descriptions and analyses of mediumistic activities in an Afro-Brazilian cult house with a scientifically-grounded explanation for the emergence and spread of ideas about spirits, possession and healing. Cohen shows why spirit possession and its associated activities are inherently attention-grabbing. Making a radical departure from traditional anthropological, medicalist and sociological analyses, she argues that a cognitive approach offers more precise and testable hypotheses concerning the spread and appeal of spirit concepts and possession activities. This timely book presents new lines of enquiry for the cognitive science of religion (a rapidly growing field of interdisciplinary scholarship) and challenges the theoretical frameworks within which spirit possession practices have traditionally been understood.

Spirited Things

Author : Paul Christopher Johnson
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 351 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2014-05-07
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780226122939

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Spirited Things by Paul Christopher Johnson Pdf

The word “possession” is anything but transparent, especially as it developed in the context of the African Americas. There it referred variously to spirits, material goods, and people. It served as a watershed term marking both transactions in which people were made into things—via slavery—and ritual events by which the thingification of people was revised. In Spirited Things, Paul Christopher Johnson gathers together essays by leading anthropologists in the Americas that reopen the concept of possession on these two fronts in order to examine the relationship between African religions in the Atlantic and the economies that have historically shaped—and continue to shape—the cultures that practice them. Exploring the way spirit possessions were framed both by material things—including plantations, the Catholic church, the sea, and the phonograph—as well as by the legacy of slavery, they offer a powerful new way of understanding the Atlantic world.

Summoning the Spirits

Author : Andrew Dawson
Publisher : I.B. Tauris
Page : 244 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2011
Category : Religion
ISBN : IND:30000127701914

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Summoning the Spirits by Andrew Dawson Pdf

This ... work ... examines spirit possession rituals in relation to interpersonal, institutional, structural and expressive processes, and underscores the potential of possession to adapt to changing circumstances. Each chapter offers ethnographically grounded and theoretically engaged analyses of possession ...

Human Spirits: A Cultural Account of Trance in Mayotte

Author : Michael Lambek
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 244 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 1981-11-30
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 0521238447

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Human Spirits: A Cultural Account of Trance in Mayotte by Michael Lambek Pdf

Based on intensive ethnographic fieldwork, this book describes and interprets trance behaviour among the Malagasy speakers of Mayotte, a small island in the Comoro Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of East Africa. Professor Lambek describes how the people of Mayotte (most often women) enter into trances, during which they believe their bodies are inhabited by spirits. He then analyses the conventions for behaviour in trance and the process by which the individuals come to terms with the spirits in their midst. The book presents thorough case studies of spirit possession over time, providing one of the most detailed accounts of possession phenomena available for a single society. The author argues that trance can best be understood as a social activity within a defined system of cultural meaning rather than as a psychological problem, a simple deception or a means of manipulating others. This book should be of particular interest to those concerned with the study of ritual, symbols and non-Western religious systems.

Trance Mediums and New Media

Author : Anja Dreschke,Martin Zillinger
Publisher : Fordham Univ Press
Page : 392 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2014-12-01
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780823253821

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Trance Mediums and New Media by Anja Dreschke,Martin Zillinger Pdf

Ongoing debates about the “return of religion” have paid little attention to the orgiastic and enthusiastic qualities of religiosity, despite a significant increase in the use of techniques of trance and possession around the globe. Likewise, research on religion and media has neglected the fact that historically the rise of mediumship and spirit possession was closely linked to the development of new media of communication. This innovative volume brings together a wide range of ethnographic studies on local spiritual and media practices. Recognizing that processes of globalization are shaped by mass mediation, the volume raises questions such as: How are media like photography, cinema, video, the telephone, or television integrated in seances and healing rituals? How do spirit mediums connect with these media? Why are certain technical media shunned in these contexts?

Communicating Christ in Animistic Contexts

Author : Gailyn Van Rheenen
Publisher : William Carey Library
Page : 348 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 1991
Category : Religion
ISBN : 0878087710

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Communicating Christ in Animistic Contexts by Gailyn Van Rheenen Pdf

Whether in New Age mysticism, occultism, Haitian voodooism, Chinese ancestor veneration, or Japanese Shintoism, animistic beliefs are widespread, even today. Gailyn Van Rheenen presents a rigorous, biblical, theological, and anthropological foundation for ministering in animistic contexts.

Communicating with the Spirits

Author : Éva Pócs,Gábor Klaniczay
Publisher : Central European University Press
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2005-06-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9637326138

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Communicating with the Spirits by Éva Pócs,Gábor Klaniczay Pdf

Focuses on the problem of communication with the other world: the phenomenon of spirit possession and its changing historical interpretations, the imaginary schemes elaborated for giving accounts of the journeys to the other world, for communicating with the dead, and finally the historical archetypes of this kind of religious manifestation—trance prophecy, divination, and shamanism.Recognized historians and ethnologists analyze the relationship, coexistence and conflicts of popular belief systems, Judeo-Christian mythology and demonology in medieval and modern Europe. The essays address links between rites and beliefs, folklore and literature; the legacy of various pre-Christian mythologies; the syncretic forms of ancient, medieval and modern belief- and rite-systems; "pure" examples from religious-ethnological research outside Europe to elucidate European problems.