Incorporating spirit: Ritual Possession in Brazilian Umbanda
The barrier that separates the spiritual and earthly worlds is paper thin in Brazil. The infusion of the spiritual into the secular manifests in diverse ways, but is perhaps best represented by the prevalence of ritual possession in the region, where the spiritual and material merge. This paper will...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Equinox Publishing
[2017]
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| In: |
Body and religion
Year: 2017, Volume: 1, Issue: 2, Pages: 185-206 |
| Further subjects: | B
Umbanda
B socio-functionalism B Brazilian religions B Religion B ritual possession B Embodiment B Body |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | The barrier that separates the spiritual and earthly worlds is paper thin in Brazil. The infusion of the spiritual into the secular manifests in diverse ways, but is perhaps best represented by the prevalence of ritual possession in the region, where the spiritual and material merge. This paper will focus on the phenomenon of ritual possession within Umbanda, an eclectic Afro-Brazilian spiritual tradition. It will first explore existing sociological and socio-functionalist analyses or ritual possession in Brazil, and then argue that there is a need for an analysis that makes sense of possession from an embodied perspective. Drawing on the testimonies of mediums from two Umbanda centers in Rio de Janeiro (the Casa da Caridade Caboclo Peri) and Sao Paulo (Templo Guaracy) in Brazil, the article will investigate the appeal of ritual possession as a spiritual practice located and experienced in the body. |
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| ISSN: | 2057-5831 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Body and religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1558/bar.29112 |