Spirit Possession in Brazil. The Perception of the (Possessed) Body
Anthropos 2014 DOI: 10.5771/0257-9774-2014-1-135 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Ethnography Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Communities of Afro-Brazilian and Spiritist traditions in São Paulo, Brazil |
| Citations | 4 |
| Key findings | Argues that the common "mounting" metaphor, which casts the medium's body as passive and the spirit as dominant, fails to reflect the elaborate discourse about spirit possession in Brazil; subjective narratives of bodily experience and body-mind debates offer a fuller understanding of the possession experience. |
Abstract
Spirit possession is the core religious practice in most Afro- American religions. It is usually described as "mounting"; the spirit "rides" the body of the devotee as a horseman rides a horse. The description projects the image that a spirit takes control over the body of the medium and "uses" the human medium; the body of the person is passive and submissive, while the spirit is active and dominant. However, this view does not reflect the highly elaborate discourse about spirit possession in Brazil. The article is based on fieldwork among communities of Afro-Brazilian and Spiritist traditions in São Paulo, Brazil. Based on subjective narratives about bodily experience and the academic debate about body and mind, the article contributes to a wider understanding of the possession experience.