Spirit Possession and Trance

Lucy Huskinson is Lecturer in the Philosophy of Religion at Bangor University, UK. Bettina E. Schmidt is a cultural anthropologist and Senior Lecturer in Study of Religions at Bangor University, UK.

"Is possession by spirits a global phenomenon or do the differences in different cultural conceptualisations preclude world-wide comparison? Can one distinguish clearly between possession by spirits and trance? Are shamans possessed? Are mediums charlatans or are they really shamans in Western dress? How do modern New Age shamans compare with tribal masters of the art? All these and other questions are addressed by the contributors to this collection of essays on spirit possession across time and space. The range of ethnography is a particularly important and unusual feature; the ethnographic details provide rich material for these important debates. A comprehensive introduction by the editors sets the theoretical context. An important contribution to thinking on this intriguing phenomenon." - Professor Jean La Fontaine, The London School of Economics and Political Science,

• Introduction: Problems of Understanding Possession and Trance Lucy Huskinson and Bettina E. Schmidt (Bangor University, UK); 1. Animism Rather than Shamanism: New Approaches to What Shamans Do (for Other Animists), Graham Harvey (The Open University, UK); 2. Possession and Self-Possession: Towards an Integrated Mind-Body Perspective, Geoffrey Samuel (Cardiff University, UK); 3. Spirit Possession, Seduction, and Collective Consciousness, Louise Child (Cardiff University, UK); 4. Analytical Psychology and Spirit Possession. Towards a Non- Pathological Diagnosis of Spirit Possession, Lucy Huskinson (Bangor University, UK); 5. Possessed Women in the African Diaspora: Gender Difference in Spirit Possession Rituals, Bettina E. Schmidt (Bangor University, UK); 6. Somali Saar in the Era of Social and Religious Change, Marja Tiilikainen (University of Helsinki, Finland); 7. Taking Possession of Santo Daime: The Growth of Umbanda within a Brazilian New Religion, Andrew Dawson (Lancaster University, UK); 8. Spirit Attacks in Northern Namibia: Interpreting a New Phenomenon in an African Lutheran Context Kim Groop (Abo Akademi, Finland); 9. Divine Possession and Divination in the Graeco-Roman World: The Evidence from Iamblichus' On the Mysteries, Crystal Addey (Bristol University, UK); 10. Waking the Entranced: Reassessing Spiritualist Mediumship Through a Comparison of Spiritualist and Shamanic Spirit Possession Practices, David Gordon Wilson (University of Edinburgh, UK); 11. To Perform Possession and To Be Possessed in Performance: The Actor, the Medium and an 'Other', Sarah Goldingay (Exeter University, UK); 12. On the Transformation of the Spirit-Possession Film: Towards Rouch as 'Emergent Method', Saer Maty BS (University of St Andrews, UK); Bibliography; Index.