Possessing Spirits and Healing Selves: Embodiment and Transformation in an Afro-Brazilian Religion PDF
Preview Possessing Spirits and Healing Selves: Embodiment and Transformation in an Afro-Brazilian Religion
Culture, Mind, and Society The Book Series of the Society for Psychological Anthropology The Society for Psychological Anthropology—a section of the American Anthropology Association—and Palgrave Macmillan are dedicated to pub- lishing innovative research that illuminates the workings of the human mind within the social, cultural, and political contexts that shape thought, emo- tion, and experience. As anthropologists seek to bridge gaps between ideation and emotion or agency and structure and as psychologists, psychiatrists, and medical anthropologists search for ways to engage with cultural meaning and difference, this interdisciplinary terrain is more active than ever. Series Editor Peter G. Stromberg, Department of Anthropology, University of Tulsa Editorial Board Eileen Anderson-Fye, Department of Anthropology, Case Western Reserve University Jennifer Cole, Committee on Human Development, University of Chicago Linda Garro, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles Daniel T. Linger, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Cruz Rebecca Lester, Department of Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis Tanya Luhrmann, Department of Anthropology, Stanford University Catherine Lutz, Department of Anthropology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Peggy Miller, Departments of Psychology and Speech Communication, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Robert Paul, Department of Anthropology, Emory University Antonius C. G. M. Robben, Department of Anthropology, Utrecht University, Netherlands Bradd Shore, Department of Anthropology, Emory University Jason Throop, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles Carol Worthman, Department of Anthropology, Emory University Titles in the Series Adrie Kusserow, American Individualisms: Child Rearing and Social Class in Three Neighborhoods Naomi Quinn, editor, Finding Culture in Talk: A Collection of Methods Anna Mansson McGinty, Becoming Muslim: Western Women’s Conversions to Islam Roy D’Andrade, A Study of Personal and Cultural Values: American, Japanese, and Vietnamese Steven M. Parish, Subjectivity and Suffering in American Culture: Possible Selves Elizabeth A. Throop, Psychotherapy, American Culture, and Social Policy: Immoral Individualism Victoria Katherine Burbank, An Ethnography of Stress: The Social Determinants of Health in Aboriginal Australia Karl G. Heider, The Cultural Context of Emotion: Folk Psychology in West Sumatra Jeannette Marie Mageo, Dreaming Culture: Meanings, Models, and Power in U.S. American Dreams Casey High, Ann H. Kelly, and Jonathan Mair, editors, The Anthropology of Ignorance: An Ethnographic Approach Kevin K. Birth, Objects of Time: How Things Shape Temporality Andrew Kipnis, editor, Chinese Modernity and the Individual Psyche Katie Glaskin and Richard Chenhall, editors, Sleep Around the World: Anthropological Perspectives Naomi Quinn and Jeannette Marie Mageo, editors, Attachment Reconsidered: Cultural Perspectives on a Western Theory Rebecca Seligman, Possessing Spirits and Healing Selves: Embodiment and Transformation in an Afro-Brazilian Religion Possessing Spirits and Healing Selves Embodiment and Transformation in an Afro-Brazilian Religion Rebecca Seligman possessing spirits and healing selves Copyright © Rebecca Seligman, 2014. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-1-137-40959-1 All rights reserved. First published in 2014 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-48875-9 ISBN 978-1-137-40960-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9781137409607 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Seligman, Rebecca. Possessing spirits and healing selves : embodiment and transformation in an Afro-Brazilian religion / Rebecca Seligman. pages cm Summary: “Spirit possession involves the displacement of a human’s conscious self by that of a powerful other – a spirit, god, or demon – who temporarily occupies the human’s body. To many, spirit possession is quintessentially exotic, a novelty, an example of the ways in which “others” are fundamentally different. In this book, Seligman shows that, far from being exotic and “other,” spirit possession mediumship represents a privileged site for understanding a number of fundamental aspects of human experience – especially those involved with interactions among meaning, embodiment, and subjectivity. Using a diverse set of ethnographic, psychological, and biological data gathered during fieldwork among spirit possession mediums of the Candomble; religion in Northeastern Brazil, she explores how everyday and religious practices and meanings shape and interact with the bodily experiences and psychophysiological states of Candomble; mediums, both before and after their initiations, and how such interactions shape their experiences of selfhood”— Provided by publisher. 1. Candomblé (Religion)—Brazil. 2. Blacks—Brazil—Religion. 3. Spirit possession—Brazil. 4. Spiritual healing—Brazil. 5. Healing—Brazil. 6. Ethnology—Brazil. 7. Ethnobiology—Brazil. 8. Brazil—Religious life and customs. I. Title. BL2592.C35.S44 2014 299.69730981—dc23 2014009195 A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Knowledge Works (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: September 2014 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 For Thom, Nate, and Imogen This page intentionally left blank Contents List of Tables ix Series Preface xi Acknowledgments xiii Chapter 1 Introduction: Stepping into the “Supernatural World” of Candomblé 1 Chapter 2 Reflections on the Challenges and Rewards of Integrative Research 47 Chapter 3 Sometimes Affliction Is the Door: Healing and Transformation in Narratives of Mediumship 67 Chapter 4 Looking Inside: Biological Mechanisms and Embodiment in Candomblé Trance and Possession 111 Chapter 5 Healing the Embodied Self in Candomblé 135 Chapter 6 Conclusion: Stepping Back 159 Appendix: Methods 167 Notes 175 Glossary of Candomblé Terms 183 References 185 Index 203 This page intentionally left blank Tables 1.1 Mean number of symptoms on the Questionario de Morbidade Psiquiátrica dos Adultos (QMPA), a Brazilian screening instrument for anxiety and depression 41 3.1 Results of semi-structured interview questions for three comparison groups within Candomblé 68 3.2 Types and examples of affliction suffered by mediums prior to initiation 88
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