ABSTRACT
Animism refers to cosmological thinking which presupposes a common ground between different kinds of subjects, typically humans and animals. Nineteenth century anthropologists defined it as an early form of religion which attributed a soul to animals and objects and endowed them with imagined, human qualities. The chapter discusses different types of spirits in the light of these diagnostics of their intentional and human qualities. The first kind spirits are the 'owners' or 'guardians' of trees, springs, and various sites in the forest and along the coast. Whereas some spirits, particularly those associated with land, house and village, can be engaged in benevolent association with humans, free spirits are potentially malign and morally ambiguous beings that may nevertheless provide benefits for particular people. Paradoxically, however, people are most concerned about the influence of free spirits when they are at home, in the familiar environment where social humanity is expressed in predictable movements, skills, habits and diet.
