Possessing Spirits and Healing Selves: Embodiment and Transformation in an Afro-Brazilian Religion

by Rebecca Seligman

Spirit possession involves the displacement of a human's conscious self by a powerful other who temporarily occupies the human's body. Here, Seligman shows that spirit possession represents a site for understanding fundamental aspects of human experience, especially those involved with interactions among meaning, embodiment, and subjectivity.

223 pages, Hardcover

First published September 11, 2014

Reviews

[Roger Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blending traditional ethnography and neuroanthropology, Seligman details her attempts to study psychophysiology within Candomblé settings in Brazil, particularly spirit possession. What emerges is a more embodied and less essentialized approach to phenomenology with important implications for studying religions, race, class, gender, and varying states of consciousness.