The Indigeneity of Spirit Possession: A Contribution to Comparative Theory

Bringing the concept of indigeneity to the comparative study of spirit possession requires significant framing. What is gained by arguing that indigeneity is foundational to spirit possession is worth the challenge.¹ The significant presence of Indigenous peoples in the study of spirit possession coupled with the current flourishing of scholarly attention on the critical and ecological insights of Indigenous traditions provides further impetus to theorize the indigeneity of spirit possession.² This chapter offers a contribution to comparative theory of spirit possession arguing that the spatial and temporal aspects of the scene of spirit possession are best understood in terms of