On the East African island of Mayotte, Islam co-exists with two other systems of understanding and interpreting the world around its inhabitants: cosmology and spirit-mediumship. In a witty, evocative style accessible to both the specialist and non-specialist reader, Michael Lam…
In a witty, evocative style accessible to both the specialist and non-specialist reader, Michael Lambek provides a significant contribution to writing on African systems of thought, local forms of religious and therapeutic practice, social accountability, and the place of explic…
"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 …
"This volume, written by cutting-edge anthropologists currently working on spirit possession, aims to conceptualize possession using words and concepts that do not exclude spiritual explanations on the one hand, and social explanations on the other. Applying the notion of "parad…
This is a two-volume chronological history and examination of spirit possession that addresses its phenomenological, psychological, and neurobiological aspects, and its effects on societies.
From the publisher. From the beginning of civilization to the present day, and across all major religions and cultures, there have been documented cases of people seemingly overtaken by an unseen entity. The invading force -- whether good or bad -- appears to replace the possess…
"A provocative reinterpretation of accounts of spirit possession and exorcism in early Christianity. The earliest Christian writings are filled with stories of possession and exorcism, which were crucial for the activity of the historical Jesus and for the practice of his earlie…
A provocative reinterpretation of accounts of spirit possession and exorcism in early Christianity. The earliest Christian writings are filled with stories of possession and exorcism, which were crucial for the activity of the historical Jesus and for the practice of his earlies…
"A provocative reinterpretation of accounts of spirit possession and exorcism in early Christianity. The earliest Christian writings are filled with stories of possession and exorcism, which were crucial for the activity of the historical Jesus and for the practice of his earlie…