Encounters with the Invisible: Revisiting Spirit Possession in the Himalayas

This volume considers spirit possession in the Himalayas and the various ways in which invisible powers are made present. It does so by examining material representations of these powers through artefacts, animals, plants and natural substances.

Marie Lecomte-Tilouine is research director at CNRS, and member of the Laboratoire d’Anthropologie Sociale, CNRS/EHESS/Collège de France, Paris, France. She has coordinated several collective programs of research in Nepal and the Western Himalayas and she is now heading a program on the ＂Stones fallen from the Sky＂, included in the PEPR Origins. Her books include, Hindu Kingship, Ethnic Revival and Maoist Rebellion in Nepal, 2009; (ed.) Bards and Mediums: History, Culture and Politics in the Central himalayan Kingdoms, Almora, 2009; (ed.) Revolution in Nepal, 2013; (ed.) Nature, Culture and Religion at the Crossroads of Asia, 2017; and Sacrifice and violence, forthcoming.

Anne de Sales is senior researcher emerita at the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and member of the Laboratoire d’Ethnologie et de Sociologie Comparative/CNRS/Paris Nanterre Université. She has participated in or coordinated several collective research projects in the anthropology of Nepal and the Himalayas. Her publications include a monograph on an ethnic minority, the Kham-Magar, and numerous articles on shamanic practices and oral literature. Her publications have also addressed a range of anthropological issues concerning the impact of the Maoist insurrection on rural areas.