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Table of contents (6 chapters)
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About this book
Reviews
“This book offers a way to address some of the unique questions about spirit possession trance religions. Seligman offers a clear and detailed description of her innovative methodology in a special appendix which should be of interest to ethnographers in a variety of fields. I highly recommend this book to anthropologists and social scientists generally.” (Patricia Barker Lerch, Nova Religion, Vol. 20 (2), 2016)
"Spirit possession continues to be a vital aspect of religious experience and healing practices in many traditions. In this compelling ethnographic account of Candomblé in Brazil, Rebecca Seligman explores the transformations of subjectivity, self and identity central to becoming a spirit medium. Through the concept of "biolooping", she brings culture and biology into dialogue to show how knowledge, body practices, and cultural scripts work together to create new versions of selfhood and forms of moral life with healing potential. Anyone seeking deeper understanding and an integrative view of the meanings and functions of dissociative experience in religion and healing will find this work richly rewarding." - Laurence J. Kirmayer, James McGill Professor and Director, Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, McGill University, Canada"The question of why spiritual practice is associated with better health is one of the most important puzzles in the study of religion. Possessing Spirits and Healing Selves offers a fascinating solution. Rebecca Seligman demonstrates that religious experts have better cardiac autonomic regulation than non-experts. That association has been observed before, but never explained, and never linked to the patterns of self-transformation she is able to detail. Thus, the book is great for teaching and a research gem." - T. M. Luhrmann, author of When God Talks Back
About the author
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Possessing Spirits and Healing Selves
Book Subtitle: Embodiment and Transformation in an Afro-Brazilian Religion
Authors: Rebecca Seligman
Series Title: Culture, Mind, and Society
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137409607
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan New York
eBook Packages: Palgrave Media & Culture Collection, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: Rebecca Seligman 2014
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-137-40959-1Published: 11 September 2014
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-349-48875-9Published: 11 September 2014
eBook ISBN: 978-1-137-40960-7Published: 11 September 2014
Series ISSN: 2637-6806
Series E-ISSN: 2634-517X
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIV, 209
Topics: Sociology of Religion, Social Aspects of Religion, Social Anthropology, Cultural Anthropology, Cultural Studies, Spirituality