2022/07/14 by Wilkens, Katharina
#FOS: Philosophy #ethics and religion
paper · doi:10.25598/csrt/2022-3
Introducing the new journal Crosscultural Studies of Religion and Theology – Interdisciplinary Perspectives I take a look at spirit possession and the many forms in which it is practiced in Africa today. I suggest four approaches to a crosscultural study of possession rituals: a comparative approach, a view towards entangled histories, a transregional perspective and a reflection on academic theorizing which can be understood as a process of cultural translation itself. My research is grounded in aesthetics of religion which methodologically integrates performative, cognitive, material and historical aspects of religion into a sensory paradigm. I provide examples of trance rituals and spirit pantheons from across the continent and the Diaspora to underscore the highly dynamic nature of this contemporary form of spirituality.