ABSTRACT

So far, I've argued that spirit possession is an incontestably embodied phenomenon that triggers a myriad of cultural memories. Such a proposition, however, recounts only part of the tale. How can we explain the power of spirit possession to evoke the past, manipulate the present, and provoke the future? How can we explain the power of spirit possession to shape both local and state politics? My tentative answer, which I begin to articulate in this chapter, is that spirit possession is a site of mimetic production and reproduction, which makes it a stage for the production and reproduction of power.