Title: Possessing spirits and healing selves
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"--
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, Blacks, religion, Brazil, social life and customs, Candomblé, Besessenheit, Geistheilung
Places: Brazil