Soil, self, resistance: late-modernity and locative spirit possession in Kerala

In late-modern Kerala, spirit affliction and possession reveal how formerly separate social groups have become mixed. The traditional bond between person, descent group (kuṭumpam), and ancestral soil—expressed in mortuary rituals—conflicts with modern state-defined land relations. New wealthy families have moved into village border areas once exclusively inhabited by Untouchables, places believed haunted by ghosts and malevolent deities. A case history describes an Īḻava moneylender's wife possessed by Untouchable ancestors. These possession cases serve as a window into how multiple boundary processes now shape personhood, self, and territory.

Study at a glance

Abstract

I present a place-centred and low-caste view of spirit affliction/possession with reference to person-kuṭumpam (descent group)-soil continuity and interaction in late-modern Kerala, where previous boundary processes have been subjugated to a new set of boundary processes that mixed-up what was formerly unmixable. The person-kuṭumpam-soil consubstantiality, which is expressed in mortuary rituals, contradicts with the modern praxis of people-state-land relations. The new rich have been moving into the border areas of the village, which was formerly inhabited exclusively by Untouchables, and which was believed to be a dangerous place where ghosts and malevolent deities wandered. I present a case history of an Īḻava moneylender’s wife, whose body was possessed by Untouchable ancestors. I use thematically related case histories of spirit affliction and possession as a ‘window’ that provides a glimpse into the ways in which multiple boundary processes constitute person, self and territory in the late-modern context.