The Devil in the Details: Materiality and the Spirit in a Trinidadian Village

Illness and other misfortunes were commonly attributed to the Devil in the Trinidadian village where I undertook fieldwork. These explanations included an understanding that both the Holy Spirit and demonic spirits could dwell within and change the nature of bodies and objects. Spirits within the bo...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Lynch, Rebecca (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: [publisher not identified] [2015]
In: Diskus
Year: 2015, Volume: 17, Issue: 3, Pages: 40-56
Online Access: Volltext (doi)
Volltext (kostenfrei)

MARC

LEADER 00000naa a2200000 4500
001 1558705546
003 DE-627
005 20170517105909.0
007 cr uuu---uuuuu
008 170517s2015 xx |||||o 00| ||eng c
024 7 |a 10.18792/diskus.v17i3.74  |2 doi 
035 |a (DE-627)1558705546 
035 |a (DE-576)488705541 
035 |a (DE-599)BSZ488705541 
040 |a DE-627  |b ger  |c DE-627  |e rda 
041 |a eng 
084 |a 0  |2 ssgn 
100 1 |0 (DE-588)1120965012  |0 (DE-627)873763637  |0 (DE-576)480643962  |4 aut  |a Lynch, Rebecca 
109 |a Lynch, Rebecca 
245 1 4 |a The Devil in the Details  |b Materiality and the Spirit in a Trinidadian Village  |c Rebecca Lynch 
264 1 |c [2015] 
336 |a Text  |b txt  |2 rdacontent 
337 |a Computermedien  |b c  |2 rdamedia 
338 |a Online-Ressource  |b cr  |2 rdacarrier 
520 |a Illness and other misfortunes were commonly attributed to the Devil in the Trinidadian village where I undertook fieldwork. These explanations included an understanding that both the Holy Spirit and demonic spirits could dwell within and change the nature of bodies and objects. Spirits within the body guided actions, thoughts and feelings but also caused, or cured and protected, individuals from illnesses. A good Christian lifestyle was necessary to maintain the healthy body for the Holy Spirit to dwell within while neglect left the body open to malevolent spirits. These conceptions of health and illness linked to understandings of Caribbean sorcery ( obeah ) and cultural conceptions of the body, as well as Evangelical Christian approaches. Two types of bodies were constructed in these understandings: the healthy maintained body in which the Holy Spirit dwelt and the unhealthy disordered body in which devilish spirits could be found. These bodies differed not metaphorically but in actual substance, they were materially different bodies. Bodies, spirits, health, illness and morality were thus connected in everyday village life and to gather a more nuanced understanding of this I attend to the concrete aspects of these interactions. Drawing on approaches in medical anthropology focusing on practices and the material, I examine the role of devilish spirits in illness causation and how relationships between spirits and bodies were lived. I argue that through the material body immaterial cosmological understandings were expressed, understood and impacted on practices. This was cosmology as lived, embedded in everyday experience and practice, not in abstract belief. 
773 0 8 |i Enthalten in  |t Diskus  |d Bath : [Verlag nicht ermittelbar], 1993  |g 17(2015), 3, Seite 40-56  |h Online-Ressource  |w (DE-627)320634612  |w (DE-600)2024354-6  |w (DE-576)281196532  |x 0967-8948  |7 nnns 
773 1 8 |g volume:17  |g year:2015  |g number:3  |g pages:40-56 
856 4 0 |u http://diskus.basr.ac.uk/index.php/DISKUS/article/view/74  |x Verlag  |x Resolving-System  |z kostenfrei  |3 Volltext 
856 |u https://doi.org/10.18792/diskus.v17i3.74  |x doi  |3 Volltext 
951 |a AR 
ELC |a 1 
LOK |0 000 xxxxxcx a22 zn 4500 
LOK |0 001 296958591X 
LOK |0 003 DE-627 
LOK |0 004 1558705546 
LOK |0 005 20170517105909 
LOK |0 008 170517||||||||||||||||ger||||||| 
LOK |0 040   |a DE-Tue135  |c DE-627  |d DE-Tue135 
LOK |0 092   |o n 
LOK |0 852   |a DE-Tue135 
LOK |0 852 1  |9 00 
LOK |0 935   |a ixzs  |a ixzo 
OAS |a 1 
ORI |a SA-MARC-ixtheoa001.raw 
REL |a 1 
SUB |a REL