RELIGST 3AR3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Social Geography, Making Money, Spirit Possession

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Religious Studies
• Course: RELIGST 3AR3
• Professor: Celia Rothenberg

Document Summary

What is spirit possession? (cid:862) hold e(cid:454)erted o(cid:448)er a hu(cid:373)a(cid:374) (cid:271)ei(cid:374)g (cid:271)(cid:455) e(cid:454)ter(cid:374)al for(cid:272)es or e(cid:374)tities (cid:373)ore po(cid:449)erful tha(cid:374) she or he(cid:863) (cid:894)bodd(cid:455) 1994(cid:895) The idea that no matter what, there is some sort of hold over a human. A human can fight it, but cannot fully eliminate it. Personal/social pathology; something may be mentally/socially/physically out of place, with focus on mental illness. Status deprivation; maybe cannot achieve a positive/empowered status and use spirit possession for something. Calcium deficiency hypothesis; medically off or physically off. Ethnographic case study: jinn in the palestinian west bank ch1. To understand jinn stories we need to understand key contexts: Social/cultural/religious context: patriarchal extended family, social geography. Ethnographic case study: jinn in the palestinian west bank ch2. Present day jinn : characteristics, treatment and healers. They live in a parallel world, with armies, and communities. Causing you trouble or be with you.