Conceptualizing Spirit Possession: Ethnographic and Experimental Evidence (original) (raw)
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When Minds Migrate: Conceptualizing Spirit Possession
Journal of Cognition and Culture, 2008
Abstract To investigate possible cognitive factors influencing the cross-cultural incidence of spirit possession concepts and to develop a more refined understanding of the precise contours of 'intuitive mind-body dualism' (Bloom, 2004), two studies were conducted that explored ...
The mind possessed: the cognition of spirit possession in an Afro-Brazilian religious tradition
Choice Reviews Online, 2008
Ⅲ Comments by Diana Espirito Santo "Why spirits?" asks Emma Cohen (97)-why are concepts of intentional and agentive supernatural beings such as spirits and gods so prevalent cross-culturally? What makes them appealing, contagious, and lasting? And what kinds of assumptions about the world and its workings do they entail and do they generate? In Th e Mind Possessed, Cohen off ers us some answers; to some degree by appealing to her ethnography of the Afro-Brazilian practice of batuque in the Amazon-bordering town of Belém, but mostly by subordinating particularistic concerns to what she considers more general 'scientifi c' ones. However, it may be the questions, rather than the answers, that merit revising. Cohen holds that the minds of human beings are constrained by certain tacit (and largely unconscious) assumptions about the natural and social world, inherited from our evolutionary past ('naive biology' , for instance; or, more important in this case, 'theory of mind' , consistent with the modularity thesis). Following authors such as Barrett (1999, 2004), Boyer (1994, 2001), and Sperber (1996), she argues that the spirit beliefs that are likely to be transmitted from one person to the next generally consist of a balance of intuitive (the spirit has thoughts and feelings) and counterintuitive principles (the spirit has a mind but no body). Furthermore, spirits (such as orixás) are catchy ideas because they are socially relevant-they are believed to have access to crucial 'strategic information' , and this keeps people coming back. Possession, Cohen explains, is an interpretation of what can be regarded as a relatively normal 'alternative state of consciousness' , one based on the over-attribution of agency, both from the perspective of the possessed and from that of his or her audience ("subtle contextual cues and psychological biases come into play" on both ends [131]). Comparatively little attention is given to the structure and experience of possession, or to how it is properly learned and developed over time, which strikes this reader as paradoxical given the author's concern with explaining the continued existence of these phenomena. By disembedding the conceptual from the phenomenological, Cohen ends up not being able to say much about the 'cognition' leading up to and of spirit possession itself, 'on the ground' (as she oft en says), which is a historical, intersubjective process, some aspects of which are shared and others unique to each person. In other words, because she separates so determinately native explanations from the so-called objective ones, Cohen is unable to transform ethnographic categories into vital analytical ones, permitting a rather one-sided conversation to take place. Th at the former kinds of explanations are relegated to the status of 'beliefs'-by
Spirit Possession as a Cross-cultural Experience
Bulletin for Biblical Research
Various cross-cultural parallels to NT spirit-possession narratives (in terms of both behavior and interpretation) suggest that scholars should respect the NT descriptions as potentially reflecting eyewitness accounts or sources. Anthropologists have documented spirit possession or analogous experiences in a majority of cultures, although interpretations of the experiences vary. In some cases, possession trance can produce violent behavior toward oneself (cf. Mark 5:5, 9:22) or others (cf. Acts 19:16), and some cultures associate it with publicly recognized, apparently superhuman feats of strength (cf. Mark 5:4) or knowledge (cf. Mark 1:24, Acts 16:16–17).
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies, 2015
What does it mean to be possessed by a spirit or demon? Some phenomenological insights from neuro-anthropological research The visible growth in possession and exorcism in Southern Africa can, amongst others, be attributed to the general impression in Christianity that, since Jesus was a successful exorcist, his followers should follow his example. Historical Jesus research generally endorses a view of Jesus as exorcist, which probably also contributes to this idea, yet there is no or very little reflection about either exorcism or possession as cultural practices. This article offers a critical reflection on possession based on insights from cross-cultural and neuro-scientific research. The first insight is that possession is not a single thing, but a collective term for what is a wide range of phenomena. At least two distinct meanings are identified: possession as a label for illness or misfortune, and possession as an indication of forms of human dissociative phenomena. In the latter instance, an impression of possession as a mode of being a Self, together with insights about the inherent potential for dissociative phenomena, provides the background to the view of possession as a cultural technique with a variety of functions. A second insight is that the term possession refers to complex neuro-cultural processes that can be described by means of both cultural and neurological mechanisms. A third insight is that in most ethnographic examples possession is the response or solution to other underlying problems. Against this background the role of exorcism should be reconsidered as clear-cut and worthy of emulation.
The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology. Edited by Hilary Callan. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., 2018
In many societies around the world, spirit possession is a multifaceted phenomenon. It causes ill-health and suffering, is a source of knowledge regarding ways of tackling social and health problems, and constitutes modes of collective remembering. In the expert literature, spirit possession is diversely referred to as altered states of consciousness, or dissociation or dissociative states. According to specific social circumstances, spirit possession is experienced as constructive in that it can provide healing resources; it is destructive in that it can cause serious health and social afflictions; and it can also be uncertain by encapsulating positive and negative experiences at once and over time. In the 1960s and 1970s sociological approaches reduced spirit possession to symbolic forms of power struggles. It was argued that disadvantaged groups, particularly women, attempted to redress their precarious condition by means of spirit possession (Lewis 1971). Anthropologists have spent lengthy periods of time conducting ethnographic studies of spirit possession in numerous societies and have suggested that the diversity of the phenomenon makes it difficult to capture in a single approach and definition. Thus, anthropologists and other social scientists tend to use definitions that are consistent with the type of spirit possession that is prevalent in a particular society at a specific point in time, whereas others have applied multidisciplinary approaches in search of complex understandings. There are, however, points of departure that any student , expert, or media professional must consider when engaging with the topic. Spirit possession is an embodied phenomenon which nevertheless transcends the individual and becomes part of group dynamics (Stoller 1995). It flourishes in societies that cultivate the belief that an individual's body and action can be influenced and controlled by deities and spirits. Spirit possession manifests in ritual practice and in everyday life. In these contexts and for the people involved, spirits are real and are regarded as persons (Lambek 1981). Spirits are inseparable from particular social attitudes to death and particular historical circumstances of death (Kwon 2008). Research conducted in numerous societies consistently confirms that both men and women are afflicted by spirits; however, women are the principal focal point of possession trance. Because of gaps in reporting the identity of the spirits, the literature offers a less clear picture regarding the gender of the spirits. Recent case studies conducted in specific war-torn communities show, however, that afflicting spirits tend to be male (Igreja et al. 2010). In social theory, spirit possession has continuously animated debates and analysis regarding the potential and limits of human intentionality (also referred to as " human agency "). The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology. Edited by Hilary Callan.
Application of an ethnographic methodology for the study of spirit possession
Paranthropology. V2, n3, pp 23-27., 2011
Abstract In my own doctoral thesis I argued the case for a revised epistemology for Spirit Release Therapy (SRT) according to the conceptual framework of F.W.H. Myers, the 19th century co-founder of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR). In my thesis I support the adoption of the radical empiricism of William James {!James 1912} and a participant / observer method in anthropological research according to the model proposed by social science theorist Paul Diesing {!Diesing 1971}. Whilst my thesis was limited to examining Myers’ conceptual framework, I was unable to examine in any great detail the participant / observer method other than make brief references to some anthropologists, such as Alberto Villoldo {!Villoldo 2005} who have applied it in their field work on shamanism and soul loss. A central theme of my thesis is the proposition that personal experience of spirit possession is an essential factor in a revised epistemology that enables scientific inquiry to accommodate possession phenomena. This may seem to be a radical approach in the extreme and one that would understandably be rejected by all but the most adventurous (or mad) researcher. However, this proposition is not as outlandish as it may at first appear, and in this article I apply (in retrospect) the ethnographic methodology proposed by anthropologist Fiona Bowie {!Bowie 2010} of the Afterlife Research Centre at Bristol University to two cases that I have encountered in my own clinical practice. The first case is one of possession where a client who was undergoing hypnosis for personal development became an instrument of communication for a discarnate entity. The second case is where I became possessed by a discarnate entity as part of my own experiential learning in how to direct earthbound souls to the Light. There are very real difficulties in transcribing personal experience into a scientific framework, and this second case is representative of this difficulty. It was so difficult in fact that the only way I could report it was in the third person. Such was the intensity of the emotions experienced that even to this day I find it extremely difficult to convey the experience to others. This is the emotive power of what Bowie would call the ethnographic method.
The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology, 2018
Shamanism and possession are central features of religious practices found in premodern societies. Theymanifest substantial similarities across cultures, suggesting that their basis involves something fundamental to human nature and consciousness. These terms are applied to a wide range of ritual alterations of consciousness. The variation in these practices has contributed to long-standing questions regarding the precise nature of shamans and whether they are possessed by spirits. Cross-cultural studies reveal the characteristic features of shamans and how their modifications of consciousness are distinguished from the practices of possession that are typical of mediums.