Transforming Possession: Josephine and the Work of Culture

Abstract

This article presents the case of a Sri Lankan woman who tells of an early life fraught with suffering and problematic dissociation. After a 30‐year career as a priestess during which she became renowned for deep possession trances, firewalking, and blood sacrifices, she no longer participates in these activities. The analysis of this case argues that problematic dissociation outside a ritual context can be used in and transformed by involvement in culturally available possession rituals to promote healing. This counters Melford Spiro and others who have viewed possession experiences as necessarily abnormal, psychotic, and symptomatic of mental disorder. It supports Gananath Obeyesekere's assertion that engagement with these symbolic systems can lead to “progressive transformations.” Parallels between this priestess' lifestory and Western psychotherapy extend Obeyesekere's conception of “the work of culture” beyond the domain of meaning and symbol to include roles for embodied practice and interpersonal relationships. [spirit possession, Sri Lanka, dissociation, healing, mental health]

Making Meaningful Worlds: Role-Playing Subcultures and the Autism Spectrum

“…Here, I am also following Chapin’s (2008) call to “extend Obeyesekere’s conception of ‘the work of culture’ beyond the domain of meaning and symbol to include roles for embodied practice and interpersonal relationships.” As Obeyesekere notes in Medusa’s Hair, individuals work through their internal conflicts through the use of public symbols, and such symbols “would cease to exist (except in texts and nonliving icons) if individuals did not create [them] each time on the anvil of their personal anguish” (33). In their lively animation of these structured practices, narratives, and relational networks, the campers have given these existing forms a new manifestation.…”

“He Who Has the Spirits Must Work a Lot”: A Psycho‐Anthropological Account of Spirit Possession in the Dominican Republic

“…Chapin () presented an account of a 58‐year‐old Sri Lankan Kali priestess with a life fraught with serious difficulties, who transitioned from uncontrolled dissociative episodes to manifestations within a ritual setting including firewalking and blood sacrifices, to more sedate practices. Both Seligman and Chapin present longitudinal analyses emphasizing teenage and adult crises, but have little to say about earlier stages, which are crucial to understanding the development of the self.…”

“…The term "dissociation" refers to experienced loss of information, memory, or control of psychological and somatic processes ordinarily available to conscious awareness, self-attribution, or control (Cardeña and Carlson 2011); its manifestations can be functional or dysfunctional (Cardeña 1997). Chapin (2008) presented an account of a 58-year-old Sri Lankan Kali priestess with a life fraught with serious difficulties, who transitioned from uncontrolled dissociative episodes to manifestations within a ritual setting including firewalking and blood sacrifices, to more sedate practices. Both Seligman and Chapin present longitudinal analyses emphasizing teenage and adult crises, but have little to say about earlier stages, which are crucial to understanding the development of the self.…”

Bearing the Decline of Animal Sacrifice: Enhanced State of Consciousness, Illness, Taboos, and the Government in Southwest China

“…Contrastively, Obeyesekere (, ) claims that shamans, in their manipulation of cultural symbols, gain transformatively positive experience. Borrowing Obeyesekere's concept of transformative progression, Chapin () analyzes how a Sri Lankan woman, after a 30‐year career as a priestess for deep possession trances and firewalking, identified significant transformations in her practice. She experienced a transformation from being spontaneously possessed by demons to being purposefully possessed by gods, and she viewed her possession practices as transformed from signals of trouble to signs of blessing and power.…”