What spirit possession “does”: the production of cosmology and change in Afro-Latin religions II

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

Spirit possession has been typically seen as a phenomena that “says something” about its socio-historical environment (or performs it). Rather than focusing on individual spirit mediums, these studies focus on collective tropes and imagery that embody forms of historical imagination, reproducing, reinterpreting or subverting dominant existential modes or ideologies. The possessed are seen as “outside” of themselves, unconsciously articulating or dialoguing with their culture through their entranced states. It is no wonder that Paul Johnson has argued that the “possessed” helped to construct concepts of a proper individual in the “West” (2014), atomistic and contract-worthy; in effect, the possessed signaled the exact opposite: the lack of a bounded person. But spirit possession does not simply “mediate” or “embody” a cultural environment – it also does things to it. Not only is it the case that spirit mediums can “possess” spirits as much as the other way around – and trance is not necessarily an unconscious event – but possession often has unintended effects. Some of these effects impinge directly on a cosmology of spirits – for instance, the appearance of new ontological configurations and entities; others produce changes in ritual know-how, status quo, and even hierarchy. Also, as much as spirits may already exist in a hypothetical “transcendent”, they very often need to be materially and somatically “made” in order to have (co-)presence. This "making" may also reveal lesser known or obscure aspects of spirits, transforming the cosmological and ritual dynamic. Engagement can become cosmogonical, and it can bring forth new forms of historical consciousness and affective orientations for practitioners. This panel will explore the aspects “made” and “done” – rather than merely reflected or refracted – by possession phenomena. It will focus primarily on Afro-Latin spirit possession religions and practices, whose plasticity is well documented but under theorized.

Sub Track

• Religions and Spiritualities

Chair

• Marcio Goldman, Museu Nacional

Individual Presentations

• Santería Copresence and sensing diaspora - Aisha M Beliso-De Jesus, Harvard University

• Interviews with the dead: immanence and apotheosis in Cuban historical consciousness - Kristina Wirtz, Western Michigan University

• Ineffability and subjectivity in Brazilian Umbanda´s forms of possession - Diana Espírito Santo, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

Discussant

• Anastasios Panagiotopoulos