Spirit possession
La possession en Asie du Sud January 1, 1999 Shail Mayaram 3 citations
Spirit possession challenges the dominant Self-Other binary in social theory by offering an alternative paradigm for understanding selfhood, inter-ethnic relations, and culture. Based on ethnography of two shaman women in rural Ajmer, Rajasthan, the paper shows how a Hindu woman possessed by the spirit of a Muslim martyr and a Muslim woman possessed by a Hindu goddess embody a permeable self where the other substantially takes over. This practice enables healers to intervene in mundane desires and weave complex cosmographies. The creative imaginary of the shrines contrasts with polarized ethnic identity politics of groups like the Tablighi Jamaat and VHP. The client-healer relationship creates a speech community across caste and ethnic lines, while gender performativity renegotiates gender relations but also exposes communal fractures.