In this paper we present a multidisciplinary, developmental analysis of a Dominican Republic Vodou servidor ("Marcos"), from childhood to early adulthood, integrating ethnographic observation, field documentation, and anthropological analysis, with relevant constructs from developmental, personality, and clinical psychology. Marcos transitioned from a child with many problems to a young adult...
This article explores a variety of spirit possession within Vodou in the Dominican Republic that is unbidden and characterized by uncontrolled movement. Local explanatory models for states of distressing possession are being overwhelmed or punished by the spirits. While in most cases possession behavior becomes more organized and rich in symbolic meaning as an individual progresses on her...
The form of spirit possession performed by practitioners who are readily initiated into Dominican Vodou requires them to be excellent (inter-)actors, dancers, and poets. The article focuses on the ritual practice of spirit possession in the Southwest of the Dominican Republic with emphasis on the question as to what constitutes effectiveness of spirit performance and how it is produced. The...
Recent studies in African contexts have revealed a strong association between spirit possession and severe trauma, with inclusion into a possession cult serving at times a therapeutic function. Research on spirit possession in the Dominican Republic has so far not included quantitative studies of trauma and dissociation. This study evaluated demographic variables, somatoform dissociative...
In October 2011 I started the project “Spirit Possession: Modes and Function”, a Hertha-Firnberg Grant funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) (T525-G17). The project will last three years and will involve two periods of field research, each with a duration of four months.