art, academic and non-fiction books
publishers’ Eastern and Central European representation

Name your list

Log in / Sign in

ta strona jest nieczynna, ale zapraszamy serdecznie na stronę www.obibook.com /// this website is closed but we cordially invite you to visit www.obibook.com

ISBN: PB: 9780226122762

ISBN: HB: 9780226122625

University of Chicago Press

May 2014

344 pp.

22.8x15.2 cm

11 halftones

PB:
£26,50
QTY:
HB:
£84,00
QTY:

Categories:

Spirited Things

The Work of "Possession" in Afro-Atlantic Religions

The word "possession" is trickier than we often think, especially in the context of the Black Atlantic and its religions and economy. Here possession can refer to spirits, material goods, and, indeed, people. In "Spirited Things", Paul Christopher Johnson gathers together essays by leading anthropologists in the Americas to explore the fascinating nexus found at the heart of the idea of being possessed. The result is a book that marries one of anthropology's foundational concerns – spirit possession – with one of its most salient contemporary ones: materiality. The contributors reopen the concept of possession in order to examine the relationship between African religions in the Atlantic and the economies that have historically shaped – and continue to shape – the cultures that practice them. They explore the way spirit mediation is framed both by material things – including plantations, the Catholic church, the sea, and the telegraph – as well as the legacy of slavery. In doing so, they offer a powerful new concept for understanding the Atlantic world and its history, creation, and deeply complex religious and political economy.

About the Author

Paul Christopher Johnsonis professor of history and Afroamerican and African studies and director of the Doctoral Program in Anthropology and History at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He is the author of "Secrets, Gossip, and Gods: The Transformation of Brazilian Candomble" and "Diaspora Conversions: Black Carib Religion and the Recovery of Africa".

Reviews

"'Spirited Things' is an ambitious and provocative work that casts a brilliant light over one of the more complex and critical issues in anthropology. It brings spirit possession into the heart of anthropological theory, revealing its central place in the 'genealogy of modernity'" – Stefania Capone, National Center for Scientific Research and School for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences

"A model study, provocative and compelling, a constellation of essays with both gravity and energy, 'Spirited Things' rearranges spirit possession's theoretical and contextual furnishings with striking consequences. Parsing the subject in relation to current scholarly frontiers where matter is reacquainted with spirit and things aspire to agency, Johnson's volume invites an expansive audience of readers interested in materiality, religion, sensation, transatlantic slavery, and Afro-Atlantic modernities" – Sally M. Promey, editor of "Sensational Religion"

"Trading geographical sweep for ethnographic and theoretical depth, this volume engages the relationship between spirit possession and materiality, helping to locate the place of possession in the genealogy of modernity – an innovative, stimulating take on Black Atlantic religions" – Richard Price, author of "First-Time, Travels with Tooy, and Rainforest Warriors"