The anthropology of religion fiona bowie pdf

Case Studies From Cameroon more. Like other missionaries of the period, the Mill Hill Fathers faced the Like other missionaries of the period, the Mill Hill Fathers faced the dilemma of how to form Christian families based on a Western model of monogamy in a society which practices polygyny. Through the auto-ethnographic lens of a learner of the Welsh language living in Gwynedd, a largely Welsh-speaking region of North West Wales, Fiona Bowie explores the phenomenon of Welsh identity, its fluidity and variety, and the Through the auto-ethnographic lens of a learner of the Welsh language living in Gwynedd, a largely Welsh-speaking region of North West Wales, Fiona Bowie explores the phenomenon of Welsh identity, its fluidity and variety, and the contested and political nature of identification with Wales, its language and culture.

The simple essentialism sometimes implied by terminology to be or not to be 'Welsh' or a 'Welsh-speaker' for example takes on particular nuances as one moves from the micro level of ethnographic observation to the wider national stage and political arena.

The value of combining these perspectives becomes clear not just for Wales, but when examining any form of identity politics. Volume: Ch. The Futures of Magic more. In this presentation I present three examples, showing how the Internet can be used to help build spiritual communities.

They illustrate very different sorts of community and therefore help us to reflect on the breadth of both the term They illustrate very different sorts of community and therefore help us to reflect on the breadth of both the term community and Internet usage.

My first example is of a Cameroonian people known as the Bangwa. The Internet plays an important role in keeping families and communities together, and in the process reaffirms religious identity and ideas. It is based on the idea of creating a new community and form of religious identity. The Focolare Movement uses the Internet to create a common identity and build a sense of family among members who belong to different countries, cultures and religions.

I will finish with some reflections from the perspective of religion on the power of thought and intention, and the role the Internet plays in this process. In this presentation I introduce the work of the non-professional English medium, Lady Cynthia Sandys, who published several books and pamphlets in In this presentation I introduce the work of the non-professional English medium, Lady Cynthia Sandys, who published several books and pamphlets in collaboration with the novelist Rosamond Lehmann.

I also discuss the framework in which channelled mediumistic material can be studied ethnographically, using the afterlife correspondents as informants. Publication Date: Explorations in life, death and the afterlife more. In I was invited by my Anglican parish priest to give a series of three talks on my work on the afterlife to members of the congregation and anyone else who wished to attend.

I have included the handouts and links to the talks, and I have included the handouts and links to the talks, and some reflections on the process. It turned out to be an interesting lesson on the sensitivities and difficulties in bridging the gap between being a professional anthropologist and a member of a church congregation. The two worlds would not normally intersect and bringing the two together proved more of a challenge than I had initially anticipated.

The handouts are available under the additional files tab and the actual presentations via the web link. The dialogue between experience and interpretation: Paradigm shifts at the junction of science and the occult more. Having said that, there is a disjunction between the popular appetite for the paranormal, personal experience of Psi phenomena, and religious and spiritual practices on the one hand, and a fairly extreme physicalist straight-jacket that manifests itself in the media, within academia and in academic publishing on the other.

In the United Kingdom and other parts of the Western world new spaces and practices are being created that seek to legitimise forms of magical thinking.

I am going to leave religion on one side and focus in particular on the spaces between science and magic in which personal experiences that cannot be accommodated by the current dominant medical and scientific models are expressed, necessitating new or expanded understandings of the way the world works. Having gained at least a glimmer of a very different psychic world and range of relationships with human and non-human others in Cameroon, I was taken aback by some of the continuities I later discovered among alternative healers in the United Kingdom, particularly when discussing forms of psychic energy, possession and the fluidity of the Self.

This raised questions concerning the role of personal experience and its cultural manifestations and codifications on the one hand, and the challenges of interpreting uncanny or unusual experiences in a largely secular, rationalist society on the other. Taking the example of spirit possession, I explore some of the ways in which experiences that appear to be universal and ancient appear or reappear in Western society to be interpreted in ways that seek a sometimes uneasy accommodation with normative medical, scientific and religious models of reality.

Ethnographic enquiry is based on a conference organised by the Spirit Release Forum SRF in London Bowie, , and some of the wider work of those involved in this event. Motivations for involvement in the work of the SRF and similar bodies vary, but simple curiosity and a research agenda Haraldsson, seems to play less of a role than direct experience of the intrusion of spirits into an existing clinical practice, which then leads clinicians new and unorthodox directions Fiore, ; Zinser, In some cases a first-hand haunting or possession experience leads those affected to search for an explanation and relief or release from an unwanted and disturbing intrusion.

The medical profession may well pronounce the sufferer insane and resort to chemical treatments and perhaps incarceration. A de-witcher, shaman, spirit release therapist or suitably trained and experienced medium is therefore sought out, often as a last resort, although they may come disguised as a regular psychologist, psychiatrist or alternative healer almost certainly in private practice.

The focus of this particular SRF conference was mental health and ways in which a phenomenology of spirits and spirit possession can help provide clinical help for various types of mental illness. Much of the focus was on schizophrenia and hearing voices, conditions poorly understood and inadequately treated by conventional pharmaceutical and psychiatric methods, but which appear amenable to spirit release therapy. Rapoport, Most of those taking part in the conference were both open to studying the effects of spirit release techniques in clinical situations and realistic about the barriers that such ideas openly expressed encounter within the NHS.

PDF with text. This talk presents an experience of dialogue and common life from within the Focolare Movement, an international Christian group recognised formally by the Roman Catholic Church as an 'ecclesial movement'.

In order to frame the discussion In order to frame the discussion I draw on the work of philosopher, Charles Taylor, in particular his notion of the social imaginary and human flourishing. Taylor's emphasis on religion in a secular age as lived experience rather than as a mental construct is particularly useful in describing Focolare spirituality and practice. The founder, Chiara Lubich , was awarded the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion in London in and in her reception speech 1 talked about the transformational meetings she had in the s with Lutherans and Anglicans, and with the Bangwa people of Cameroon, most of whom practice traditional African religion, sometimes alongside Christianity.

In each case members of these groups recognised elements of the Focolare spirituality of unity and mutual love that they could make their own. Present at this occasion were members of other major religions, who were also drawn to the spirituality Chiara Lubich presented. I will identify key elements of Focolare spirituality and practice that give rise to a form of dialogue based on a common life, using case studies of Interfaith dialogue with Islam in the USA and UK, and Intercultural dialogue in Cameroon Africa.

February , PDF version with text. Exorcism has been practiced and is still practiced in Western Christian Churches, but there is a parallel tradition of spirit release therapy, often growing out of conventional psychiatric and psychological practices. The assumption is These energetic attachments can take many forms and one of the tasks of the spirit release practitioner is to discern the type of entity that might be troubling the patient.

At one end of the spectrum there might be sub-personalities that have become split off in times of trauma, but which are part of the same individual and can be reintegrated. At the other extreme are dark force entities that intend to cause harm and misery. In between are lost or earthbound spirits, thought forms and emotional ties emanating from both the living and the dead.

Some attachments may involve non-human beings from other realms or members of the devic kingdoms elves, fairies and so on. While the cosmology of spirit release might seem a strange mixture of European folklore, Jungian psychology, science fiction and Western esotericism, it is also fairly consistent among practitioners. As publications and practices continue to develop spirit release is gaining in popularity and visibility, presenting an alternative to the more established church practices of exorcism.

This paper asks the question, 'to what is this tradition an alternative? Key Words: Ontology, Self and Other, cognition, Spirit release, exorcism, spirit attachment, therapy, possession. Ontology and the Other: Reconfiguring Anthropology for the Anthropocene more. Western scientific models of the world, whether in the natural or social sciences, have dominated academic discourse and practice.

Growing unease with the trajectories we are following is leading to re-evaluations in many areas, often in Growing unease with the trajectories we are following is leading to re-evaluations in many areas, often in confrontation with global capitalism and its hegemonic power. Within anthropology one reaction to a materialist view of the world has been the desire listen to alternative, once derided, voices and to take them seriously. In a return to Romanticism there is a hope that perhaps the native Other can teach us something after all.

We need to re-imagine our relationship with the human and non-human worlds, and to open a dialogue that includes the Western shadow, the forbidden areas of academic discourse. These include taking seriously the study of spirits, altered states of consciousness, invisible realms and anomalous experiences. Trans-personal realities can and should be allowed into our understanding of the human and of the world we inhabit.

We do not need to throw out rational discourse and scientific methods in the process, but to be open and expand them to accept as data, as part of our shared reality, areas that have been suppressed and hidden from view. Paper short abstract We need to reimagine our relationship with the world, and with one another, in a manner that takes account of trans-personal realities.

Instead of neutralising or bracketing out alternative models of the world we can enter into a dialogue with them in a search for new syntheses. What is Culture? A talk given to the Volunteers Branch of the Focolare Movement. The Psychic Self - text more. The Psychic Self more. This talk is about boundaries, separation and integration. It is also about ontology and epistemology, that is, discourses about the nature of being and the possibility of knowledge about the world.

The psyche is as aspect of the self The psyche is as aspect of the self that reaches beyond the physical boundaries of the body. Underlying concepts such as witchcraft and spirit possession and release are the notion that the psyche is in contact with and can affect other people and the world around by non-physical means. Within anthropology there has been a move to take seriously the world views of other peoples, not automatically comparing them to Western materialist, scientific or rationalist paradigms only to find them wanting.

This methodological approach can pose more of a challenge to scholars when those studied, who hold apparently irrational beliefs, are also Westerners, educated within the same positivist tradition as the academic anthropologist. I test these ideas using two examples, both as case studies and in order to understand the methodological issues raised for the ethnographic researcher wishing to study psychic phenomena in a Western context.

The second is contemporary spirit release practices in the UK. The methodological approaches I find most interesting and useful are close to critical realism and the experiential core hypothesis.

Using a form of cognitive, empathetic engagement I suggest that the ethnographer needs to go beyond a phenomenological bracketing of experience and to look closely at the ontological issues raised by the data, which point to some universal understandings of the psychic self, as well as culturally contextual features. Explorations in Life, Death and the Afterlife more. A series of three talks given in an Anglican church in The topics were 1 Journeying through death; 2 The life beyond this life, and 3 Finding our life's purpose and plan.

The linked folder contains the flyer for the talks, The linked folder contains the flyer for the talks, reflections on the talks and the slides and handouts for each session. Transformational Encounters with Non-Ordinary Realities more. When we are studying psychic phenomena the narratives of those involved are often central to the research.

Whereas direct evidence or data of non-ordinary realities can be hard to come by, the often transformative effects of encounters Whereas direct evidence or data of non-ordinary realities can be hard to come by, the often transformative effects of encounters with spirits, or of an awareness of consciousness existing outside the physical body, are amenable to study.

Transformational encounters often form a key element in the narratives of research subjects, and these narratives, both published and oral, provide a rich source of data. In this talk I will attempt to do three things: 1 Outline a general approach to the study of non-ordinary reality through a form of cognitive, empathetic engagement; 2 Briefly survey some of the cross-cultural and historical evidence for an experiential source for many non-ordinary phenomena, including after-death contacts, reincarnation, spirit possession, near death experience and out of body travel.

Cursing, Place and Possession more. The course is coordinated by John Reardon, Artist in Residence. This year the students are studying Crystal This year the students are studying Crystal Palace ruins and adjacent park in Sydenham, South East London, a site said to have been under a curse. My brief was to look more generally at notions of cursing, burial, possession and cleansing. Religion and adoption more.

The Government is seeking to speed up the adoption process for the growing number of children being taken into care in the UK. Social workers responsible for the difficult job of matching children with adoptive parents are often Social workers responsible for the difficult job of matching children with adoptive parents are often criticised for focusing too much on questions of ethnicity or lifestyle.

So how far should religion play a factor in the process which links children and parents? Ernie Rea discusses the issue with Raffia Arshad, a family lawyer, Ruby Clay, an author who has adopted three children with her lesbian partner, and Fiona Bowie a social anthropologist and also an adoptive mother. Gifts and local kinship: Questions and insights from anthropology more.

Conferences and Events. Chickens - Bowie more. Making Space for Psi more. Review of the Society for Psychical Research study Day no. River Hafren-Severn more. In this presentation I am bringing together myth and legend with tourism, the experience of those living near and working with and on the River Severn, with the politics of energy, land and water use. I wish I could make some clever links I wish I could make some clever links between these various ways of looking at a river but the link is the River itself, the place, changing and unchanged through time.

It exists as a physical phenomenon in the landscape, forming and being formed by it, as well as in the imagination and practices of people as they live and work along its banks. If I have a conclusion it is that the river means a great deal to a great many people, but that when it comes to dealing with threats to its well-being and to climate change, some people are willing and able to tackle the questions head on, while others appear to be in denial.

My position is not neutral as I have been a climate activist in one way or another for much of my life, and one of my motivations in researching this paper has been to try to understand how and why people react in different ways to a place that they clearly value and love. I start with mythology, not because people are familiar with legends of Hafren or find myths meaningful, 1. Cork University College June The River Severn Hafren in Welsh , has a rich history in mythology and folklore, as well as being important commercially.

There are three nuclear power stations on the East bank of the Severn and Bristol Channel and the West bank has There are three nuclear power stations on the East bank of the Severn and Bristol Channel and the West bank has been granted fracking licences.

In this paper I look at the way local people deal with these competing interests. Spirit Release Therapies. Anthropologists have been interested in documenting such beliefs and practices since the inception of the discipline in the Nineteenth Century.

Spirit practices and the unseen world of psychic forces, be they in the form of witchcraft in Africa, spirit possession in Brazil, shamanistic practices in Northern Europe or Australia, or the so-called folk beliefs of Europe that stubbornly resurface whenever presumed to be on the verge of extinction, remain ubiquitous. What is new is a particular configuration of ideas concerning spirit release as a therapeutic tool in the United States and the United Kingdom and no doubt elsewhere that currently finds expression in a range of publications, web sites, conferences, group and individual healing practices.

It is this loose-knit community of healers and clients, very much dependent on modern means of communication and technology, and the ideas and practices that are in circulation within it, that I wish to discuss in this presentation. Theoretically a priori as mistaken or inferior Henare, Holbraad and Wastell, , are all part of this wider engagement with interconnectivity and process. For my purposes these trends sit comfortably with the views of contemporary spirit release practitioners and their clients.

We live as modern, rational, scientifically educated individuals in a world that is constantly interacting with and open to the influences of external forces - spirits — and it is assumed in most instances that the processes involved can be explained in physical terms and studied scientifically by those who are sufficiently open-minded.

It is a world of vibration, energy, frequencies, intention, experience and matter, constantly interacting with one another in ways that can be documented and described. There is an element of predictability, sufficient for the development of expertise and for healing practices to be tested and honed, and unpredictability, as life and experience are never wholly replicable, and each new event affects the composition of the whole. In this talk I will give an overview of some of the key texts and ideas current among spirit release practitioners and their clients, and describe the ways these circulate and serve to build up overlapping networks than encompass both academic university departments and individual practitioners operating well outside the mainstream.

Using case studies and illustrations of mediumistic readings and therapeutic encounters, we can approach more general questions concerning the ontological status of these practices — an area that has for long been taboo among social scientists - as well as giving a phenomenological account of contemporary spirit release therapies.

In doing so I am indebted to the pioneering work of Edith Turner Like David Hufford , and Gregory Shushan , I find both the similarities and differences involved in comparative studies of anomalous phenomena for want of a better term , including mediumship and spirit release, suggestive of a core of experiential data that is, as Jack Hunter remarks , innately human, whatever its source. References Fuentes, A. Dutton: New York.

Goulet, J-G. Extraordinary Anthropology: Transformations in the Field. Henare, A, Holbraad, M. Hodder I. Catalhoyuk Reseach Project Series Volume 8. British Institute at Ankara Monograph No. Hodder, I. New Literary History 45 1 : Hufford, D. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. In Walker, B. Out of the Ordinary: Folklore and the Supernatural.

Logan: Utah State University Press. Hunter, J. Rowlandson eds. Daimonic Imagination: Uncanny Intelligence. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Press.

Ingold, T. Being Alive: Essays on movement, Knowledge and Description. Ingman, P. Sheffield: Equinox. Latour, B. We Have Never Been Modern. Translated by C. Cambridge, MA. On the Modern Cult of the Factish Gods. Translated by H. MacLean and C. Translated by Catherine Porter. Cambridge: Polity Press. Pina-Cabral, J.

World: An Anthropological Examination. Chicago: Hau Books. Shushan, G. Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal. Extraordinary experiences and religious beliefs: deconstructing some contemporary philosophical axioms. Method and Theory in the Study of Religion. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read.

Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. This introductory text combines discussion of the origin and development of ideas and debates within the anthropology of religion with a look at where the subject is going today.

Provides students with a complete introduction to the anthropology of religion Uses worldwide ethnographies to illustrate the theory Includes extensive bibliographies and a list of films and vide This introductory text combines discussion of the origin and development of ideas and debates within the anthropology of religion with a look at where the subject is going today. Provides students with a complete introduction to the anthropology of religion Uses worldwide ethnographies to illustrate the theory Includes extensive bibliographies and a list of films and videos that encourage students to explore the field further Encourages students to see that anthropology is not just about reading or doing fieldwork, but offers an enriching way of looking at the world Each chapter introduces the central theoretical ideas in the anthropology of religion and illustrates them with specific case studies, such as witchcraft in Cameroon, shamanism in the Arctic, or women's initiation ceremonies Links contemporary ideas and practices with the work of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century scholars.

Get A Copy. Paperback , pages. Published February 29th by Wiley-Blackwell first published More Details Original Title. Other Editions 6. Friend Reviews.

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Be the first to ask a question about The Anthropology of Religion. Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list ». Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Start your review of The Anthropology of Religion. Jul 12, Samuel Moss rated it liked it Shelves: , non-fiction , religious. The chapters incorporate key theoretical concepts and a rich range of ethnographic material.

This is an essential guide for students encountering anthropology of religion for the first time. The Anthropology of Religion, Magic, and Witchcraft.

Get Books. This concise and accessible textbook introduces students to the anthropological study of religion. The fourth edition of. A Reader in the Anthropology of Religion. A Reader in the Anthropology of Religion is a collection of some of the most significant classic and contemporary writings in the field.

Updated in its second edition, this volume examines numerous aspects of religion in a diversity of cultures and expands upon the idea of what we mean by. Ritual and Belief. Ritual and Belief: Readings in the Anthropology of Religion is a collection of 41 readings in religion, magic, and witchcraft. The choice of readings is eclectic: no single anthropological approach or theoretical perspective dominates the text.