Jack Hunter
Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Bristol
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ABSTRACT
Anthropological approaches to the
study of spirit mediumship groups, and related practices, have usually
tended to focus on social-functional interpretations, arguing that
spirit mediumship groups function as a means to enable female practitioners
to protest against their traditional roles as “mothers, wives
and sexual partners” in oppressive maleoriented societies (Boddy,
1988; Lewis, 1971; Skultans, 1974). Such approaches, however,
have failed to address the experiential core of these groups: members
believe that they are able to make direct contact with the world of
spirits, whether through communicating with spiritual entities channelled
via entranced mediums, witnessing ostensibly paranormal phenomena
in the context of séances, or through falling into trance themselves
and experiencing direct communion with the “numinous”
(Otto, 1958).
The experiential element cannot be removed from an analysis of mediumship,
as it represents the primary motive for séance attendance as
the members themselves perceive it. To ignore it would be to detrimentally
reduce the complexity of the phenomenon. In addition to providing
an overview of a variety of anthropological approaches to the issue
of spirit possession and mediumship, this paper will detail the experiences
of an anthropologist exploring this experiential component while conducting
fieldwork for his undergraduate dissertation (Hunter,
2009a).
The fieldwork itself was conducted at the Bristol Spirit Lodge, a
centre established specifically with the aim to promote and develop
trance and physical mediumship. The fieldwork methodology was one
of immersive participant observation informed by the work of Edith
Turner (1993, 1998, 2006), who has advocated
the necessity of complete immersion in ritual if its functions and
effects are to be adequately understood.
In an attempt to understand the role of experience for the members
of the group, participant observation was carried out in séances
and mediumship development sessions as a means to gain an appreciation
of the types of experience encountered by both sitters and mediums.
This paper will present the research findings and describe the experiences
of the researcher while engaged in the field.
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Fonte: Hunter, J. (2011). 'Talking
With the Spirits: Anthropology and Interpreting Spirit Communicators.'
Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, Vol. 75.3, No. 904, pp.
129-142.
- https://www.academia.edu/3981845/Talking_With_the_Spirits_Anthropology_and_Interpreting_Spirit_Communicators
Leiam de Jack Hunter:
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Anthropology & the Supernatural: From Spirits to Consciousness
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Beyond Castaneda: A Brief History of Psychedelics in Anthropology
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"Between Realness and Unrealness": Anthropology, Parapsychology and
the Ontology of Non-Ordinary Realities
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Can Science See Spirits?
>
Contemporary Physical Mediumship: Is it Part of a Continuous Tradition?
>
Definitions, Origins, Functions and Experiences: Trends in the Anthropology
of the Supernatural from Tylor to Turner
>
Music and Altered States of Consciousness in Shamanism and Spirit Possession:
An Overview of the Literature
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Numinous Conversations: Performance and the Manifestation of Spirits in Spirit
Possession Practices
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"Spirits are the Problem": Anthropology and Conceptualising Spiritual
Beings
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Talking With the Spirits: Anthropology and Interpreting Spirit Communicator
Leiam de Jack Hunter; Joey M. Caswell, Lucas W.E. Tessaro :
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Phenomenological Convergence between Major Paradigms of Classic Parapsychology
and Cross-Cultural Practices: An Exploration of Paranthropology
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