Dynamic Cosmos, The: Movement, Paradox, and Experimentation in the Anthropology of Spirit Possession (Bloomsbury Advances in Religious Studies) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1350299367 ISBN 13: 9781350299368

Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic, 2023

Synopsis

This edited volume applies the analytic notions of paradox and play to the ethnographic manifestation of spirits, angels, and demons in different locations around the world. The 10 case studies conceptualize the co-presence of humans and entities with terms that do not exclude spiritual reasoning on the one hand, and social explanations on the other. Through in-depth descriptions of localized possession cosmologies, the different chapters collectively propose path-breaking methodological directions in this field, which incorporate ethnographic theories of simultaneity into anthropological theories of religion, kinship, and ritual. Framed by an introduction written by the editors and an afterword by Michael Lambek, a leading authority in possessions studies, the volume contains cutting edge analyses that will provide readers with new tools to evaluate previously unstudied aspects of spirit possession; all of which stem from the fantastic forms of human movement that accompany the phenomenality of paradoxes in mundane reality.

About this title

About the Author

Diana Espirito Santo is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Chile.

Matan Shapiro is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Digital Humanities at King’s College London, UK.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1350299367
• ISBN 13: 9781350299368
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 238
• Editor: Santo Diana Espírito