Introduction: Problems of Understanding Possession and Trance Lucy
Huskinson and Bettina E. Schmidt (Bangor University, UK)
1. Animism Rather than Shamanism: New Approaches to What
Shamans Do (for Other Animists), Graham Harvey (The Open
University, UK)
2. Possession and Self-Possession: Towards an Integrated Mind-Body
Perspective, Geoffrey Samuel (Cardiff University, UK)
3. Spirit Possession, Seduction, and Collective Consciousness,
Louise Child (Cardiff University, UK)
4. Analytical Psychology and Spirit Possession. Towards a
Non-Pathological Diagnosis of Spirit Possession, Lucy Huskinson
(Bangor University, UK)
5. Possessed Women in the African Diaspora: Gender Difference in
Spirit Possession Rituals, Bettina E. Schmidt (Bangor University,
UK)
6. Somali Saar in the Era of Social and Religious Change, Marja
Tiilikainen (University of Helsinki, Finland)
7. Taking Possession of Santo Daime: The Growth of Umbanda within a
Brazilian New Religion, Andrew Dawson (Lancaster University,
UK)
8. Spirit Attacks in Northern Namibia: Interpreting a New
Phenomenon in an African Lutheran Context Kim Groop (Abo Akademi,
Finland)
9. Divine Possession and Divination in the Graeco-Roman World: The
Evidence from Iamblichus' On the Mysteries, Crystal Addey (Bristol
University, UK)
10. Waking the Entranced: Reassessing Spiritualist Mediumship
Through a Comparison of Spiritualist and Shamanic Spirit Possession
Practices, David Gordon Wilson (University of Edinburgh, UK)
11. To Perform Possession and To Be Possessed in Performance: The
Actor, the Medium and an ‘Other', Sarah Goldingay (Exeter
University, UK)
12. On the Transformation of the Spirit-Possession Film: Towards
Rouch as ‘Emergent Method', Saër Maty Bâ (University of St Andrews,
UK)
Bibliography Index
New and invaluable insights into the understanding of possession and trance based on case studies from around the world.
Bettina E. Schmidt is a cultural anthropologist and Senior Lecturer
in Study of Religions at Bangor University, UK.
Lucy Huskinson is Lecturer in the Philosophy of Religion at Bangor
University, UK.
"Is possession by spirits a global phenomenon or do the differences
in different cultural conceptualisations preclude world-wide
comparison? Can one distinguish clearly between possession by
spirits and trance? Are shamans possessed? Are mediums charlatans
or are they really shamans in Western dress? How do modern New Age
shamans compare with tribal masters of the art? All these and other
questions are addressed by the contributors to this collection of
essays on spirit possession across time and space. The range of
ethnography is a particularly important and unusual feature; the
ethnographic details provide rich material for these important
debates. A comprehensive introduction by the editors sets the
theoretical context. An important contribution to thinking on this
intriguing phenomenon." - Professor Jean La Fontaine, The London
School of Economics and Political Science, UK
Spirit Possession and Trance is one of the most captivating
contributions to the field published in the last years...The volume
succeeds in discussing trance and possession as a living reality,
and at the same time it provides fresh methodological reflections
for future analyses. Trance and possession are explored as
polyphonic texts and debated as a cultural reality that defines and
is defined by contextual history and local stories, micro- and
macro-geography, classic and vernacular literature, music, media
and politics...The many and diverse examples of trance and
possession described and discussed in this book also show how
individual and collective experiences lead to the affirmation,
consolidation and transmission of forms of power...the book proves
to be an excellent and much needed resource for any reader
interested in trance possession, either a student or a teacher.
*Religions of South Asia*
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