Divine Politicking: A Rhetorical Approach to Deity Possession in the Himalayas
Journal Title: Religions - Year 2016, Vol 7, Issue 9
Abstract
In North India, political leaders are referred to as netas ¯ , and the term netagir ¯ ¯ı is broadly and pejoratively used to describe the self-promotion, political maneuvering, and public rhetoric in which politicians engage. However, my ethnographic fieldwork in the state of Uttarakhand, India, shows that local divinities can also be netas ¯ : they vie for their constituents’ support, make decisions that materially impact people’s lives, and threaten to use force in implementing those decisions. These “political divinities” are routinely encountered as possessed dancers in large-scale public rituals in this region. In this article, I focus on how political divinities affect, and are affected by, audiences in tangible and far-reaching ways. I argue that public possession rituals open up a highly charged zone for inherently fluid, situational, and pragmatic negotiations between humans and divinities. While anthropological studies of possession view it as a sociopolitical event that trades in power relations, this article calls for a rhetorical approach to possession, which foregrounds possession as a way of persuading particular audiences of certain ways of thinking and acting in matters of collective importance.
Authors and Affiliations
Aftab Singh Jassal
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP25611
- DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/rel7090117
- Views 336
- Downloads 5
Kept in His Care: The Role of Perceived Divine Control in Positive Reappraisal Coping
A formidable body of literature suggests that numerous dimensions of religious involvement can facilitate productive coping. One common assumption in this field is that religious worldviews provide overarching framewor...
Double Blind Peer-Review in Religions
Pre-publication peer-review forms the basis for how scholarly journals assess whether an article is suitable for publication. It is of paramount importance that the process is seen to be fair, robust and free of bias....
Hinduism in India and Congregational Forms: Influences of Modernization and Social Networks
In light of increased scholarly interest in the scientific study of non-Christian religions and societies, I review sociological research on Hinduism. Specifically, I focus on Hindu congregational forms, a phenomenon n...
Spirituality in the Healthcare Workplace
Spirituality involves a sense of connectedness, meaning making and transcendence. There is abundant published research that focuses on the importance of spirituality to patients and their families during times of illne...
Hamlet’s Religions
Pastoral challenges prompted pietists among Elizabethan Catholics and Calvinists to commend what historians now call an inward turn whereby the faithful, in a sense, become their own confessors. This article suggests t...