Oh I Love Mother, I Love Her Power: Shaker Spirit Possession and the Performance of Desire
Theatre Survey May 1, 1994 DOI: 10.1017/s0040557400002581 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Citations | 3 |
| Key points | Argues that the ecstatic trance state in religious possession, most often experienced by young women in their early teens across cultures, is a consciously induced performance and an enactment of spiritual power, while acknowledging the real physical effects of trance. The author cites Felicitas Goodman's view that this pattern responds to girls' powerlessness within their communities. |
Abstract
Ecstatic religious trance and spirit possession occur across a broad cultural and socioeconomic range, from Pentecostal possession by the Holy Ghost to Ethiopian zar possession cults. Interestingly, this phenomenon is most frequently experienced by young women in their early teens. Folklorists such as Felicitas Goodman postulate that this generational and gendered proclivity for trance reception is a response to the powerlessness of girls within their communities. As such, spirit possession allows young women to claim a degree of cultural power through the performance of a spiritual manifestation. Although I want to make it clear that I am not questioning the very real physical (and perhaps metaphysical) effects of the trance state during religious ecstasy, I argue that the trance state is a consciously induced performance and the enactment of spiritual power.