Review: The Dynamic Cosmos: Movement, Paradox, and Experimentation in the Anthropology of Spirit Possession, edited by Diana Espírito Santo and Matan Shapiro

Abstract

Book Review| November 01 2023 Review: The Dynamic Cosmos: Movement, Paradox, and Experimentation in the Anthropology of Spirit Possession, edited by Diana Espírito Santo and Matan Shapiro The Dynamic Cosmos: Movement, Paradox, and Experimentation in the Anthropology of Spirit Possession. Edited by Diana Espírito Santo and Matan Shapiro. Bloomsbury Academic, 2022. x + 226 pages. $115.00 hardcover; $39.95 paper; ebook available. Jeffrey E. Anderson Jeffrey E. Anderson University of Louisiana Monroe Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Nova Religio (2023) 27 (2): 123–125. https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.2023.27.2.123 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Jeffrey E. Anderson; Review: The Dynamic Cosmos: Movement, Paradox, and Experimentation in the Anthropology of Spirit Possession, edited by Diana Espírito Santo and Matan Shapiro. Nova Religio 1 November 2023; 27 (2): 123–125. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.2023.27.2.123 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentNova Religio Search The Dynamic Cosmos is a collection focused on spirit possession, a phenomenon that has long fascinated both academic and popular audiences. The introduction to the work, composed by Diana Espírito Santo and Matan Shapiro seeks to provide structure to the wide-ranging essays by proposing that their works collectively examine the phenomenon through the concepts of play, paradox, and simultaneity. The first is most prominent in the editors’ description of their goal with their use of play conveying the idea that spirit possession embodies aspects of uncertainty and contradiction much as a mock combat is intended both to represent genuine fighting while being understood as decidedly not meant to harm. Closely allied with play is the concept of paradox, which the editors link most strongly to the idea that spirit possession represents both the volition of the person possessed and the alleged spirit possessing him or her. The ten essays that... You do not currently have access to this content.