Possessing spirits and healing selves
Subtitle: embodiment and transformation in an Afro-Brazilian religion
By: Rebecca Seligman
Series: Culture, mind, and society
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Published: 2014
Place of publication: New York, NY
Language: eng
Number of pages: 209
ISBN-13: 9781137409591
Subjects: Candomblé (Religion); Blacks; Religion; Spirit possession; Spiritual healing; Healing; Ethnology; Ethnobiology; Religious life and customs; RELIGION / Spirituality; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Customs & Traditions
Description: "Spirit possession involves the displacement of a human's conscious self by that of a powerful other - a spirit, god, or demon - who temporarily occupies the human's body. To many, spirit possession is quintessentially exotic, a novelty, an example of the ways in which "others" are fundamentally different. In this book, Seligman shows that, far from being exotic and "other," spirit possession mediumship represents a privileged site for understanding a number of fundamental aspects of human experience - especially those involved with interactions among meaning, embodiment, and subjectivity. Using a diverse set of ethnographic, psychological, and biological data gathered during fieldwork among spirit possession mediums of the Candomble; religion in Northeastern Brazil, she explores how everyday and religious practices and meanings shape and interact with the bodily experiences and psychophysiological states of Candomble; mediums, both before and after their initiations, and how such interactions shape their experiences of selfhood"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 185-201) and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note:; title: 1. Introduction: Stepping Into "This Supernatural World" of Candomble;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 Candomble; Trance and Possession5. Healing the Embodied Self in Candomble;6. Conclusion: Stepping Back.