Anthropology | 2015 | Article The Politics of Spirits and the Legacy of the Exorcist Andrea De Antoni visibility 22 | Article | Draft Share: https://arx.onl/p/17590469151443 This article analyzes processes of construction of discourses about the existence of possessing spirits. It focuses on contemporary Japan and Italy, where cases of exorcism and spirit possession are reportedly increasing. Classic anthropological approaches tend to link spirit possession and the occult to changes in economic systems and resistance to modernity, while more recent research proposed analyses based on perception and interactions with the environment. Yet, these approaches do not explain the processes of construction of the possibilities that certain experiences are considered as spirit possession, or as a particular kind of possession. This article sheds light on these processes, analyzing the political strategies that shaped them, while unveiling the multidimensional interrelatedness among modernization, globalization, categorization of religion and superstition , and popular culture. The analysis firstly focuses on Inoue Enry s (1858-1919) work and the modernization of Meiji Japan. ■ Last modified: 2025-10-13 03:04:36
The Politics of Spirits and the Legacy of the Exorcist Andrea De Antoni visibility 22 | Article | Draft Share: https://arx.onl/p/17590469151443