Abstract
Spirits occupy a world that simultaneously dwells between the divine and the earthly binary, while speaking to all forces of nature, marginality and extremity in between. A discussion on spirits requires examining the rituals and mediational forces and their performance that allow participants to tackle adversity, voicelessness and continue to work safely and morally for individual advancement and the collective good faced with forces of colonialism, political, social and economic ambiguity, and others. The paper links the conceptualizations, interactions with and experience of spiritual beings in relation to the concept of Self and social agency, defined as a continuum of cooperation leaving those involved with an enhanced or diminished perception of self-agency. It is important to weigh in the pre-colonial repertoire and syncretic imaginations of spirits, such as the conceptualization of spirits in unison with sorcery and spirit possession as central to voodoo practices, neither of which were promoted by the Abrahamic religions during Western colonization, particularly in Africa. The paper highlights how an awareness of these concepts is important to examining how digital manifestations and possessions of/by spirits are transforming spiritual scapes in the 21st century.
Presenters
Sanaa RiazProfessor, Anthropology, Sociology and Anthropology, Metropolitan State University of Denver, Colorado, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2023 Special Focus—Religion in the Public Sphere: From the Ancient Years to the Post-Modern Era
KEYWORDS
Spirits Agency Colonial negotiations Digital spiritual scapes
