"He Who Has the Spirits Must Work a Lot": A Psycho-Anthropological Account of Spirit Possession in the Dominican Republic.
Ethos (Berkeley, Calif.) December 1, 2018 Etzel Cardeña, Yvonne Schaffler 14 citations
A Dominican Republic Vodou priest, followed from childhood to early adulthood, learned to control and adapt dissociative manifestations into a professional role, transitioning from a child with many problems. A multidisciplinary, developmental approach integrating ethnographic observation and psychological constructs explains how originally dysfunctional expressions of spirit possession became personally and socially beneficial. The community's shifting attitudes toward him are also accounted for by specific psychological and cultural conditions.