The Devil is Disorder: Bodies, Spirits and Misfortune in a Trinidadian Village / Edition 1

by Rebecca Lynch

Overview

What role might the Devil have in health and illness? The Devil is Disorder explores constructions of the body, health, illness and wider misfortune in a Trinidadian village where evangelical Christianity is growing in popularity. Based on long-term ethnography and locating the village in historical and global context, the book takes a nuanced cosmological approach to situate evangelical Christian understandings as shaping and being shaped by their context and, in the process, shaping individuals themselves. As people move from local to global subjects, health here stretches beyond being a matter of individual bodies and is connected to worldwide flows and networks, spirit entities, and expansive moral orders.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781789204872
Publisher:	Berghahn Books
Publication date:	01/10/2020
Pages:	282
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Rebecca Lynch is Research Fellow in Medical Anthropology at King’s College London. She completed her PhD in Social Anthropology at UniversityCollege London and has undertaken ethnographic work in Trinidad and the UK. Among other areas she has published on different sociocultural, moral and biomedical constructions of the body, health and illness and has edited three books that seek to expand approaches to the body and health.

Table of Contents

List of Figures
Acknowledgements

Introduction

PART I: VILLAGE, SPIRITS, AND MORAL ORDER

Chapter 1. Trinidad village
Chapter 2. The material and other worlds
Chapter 3. Cosmological crafting and story-telling

PART II: DISORDER AND THE DEVIL

Chapter 4. The body and health
Chapter 5. The Devil in the body
Chapter 6. Healing the body
Chapter 7. The body in the village and in the State
Chapter 8. The Devil is disorder

Conclusion: Job, justice and moral order

Appendix: Churches in the Village

References
Index

Editorial Reviews

“Based on a rich and refined ethnography, this book shows the powerful connections existing in contemporary societies between health, illness, and religion…The book shows us exactly how necessary and fruitful is to focus on the relations between heath and illness, on the one hand, and the interpretations of evil, on both individual and collective levels, on the other.” • Religion and Society

“[A] Fascinating and detailed account of local medicine, morality and metaphysics in Trinidad. Excellent ethnographic vignettes and vigorous conclusions; a major contribution to current debates on religion and modernity.” • Roland Littlewood, UniversityCollege London

“The Devil is Disorder covers an area often overlooked in medical anthropology – the link to religious beliefs and practices. The author shows impressively the relevance of taking religion into account when studying medicine. Her study also highlights the dynamic nature of cultures and the adaptability of traditions.” • Bettina Schmidt, University of Wales Trinity Saint David

From the Publisher