article
A Demon in every transistor
Etnofoor • 21 • Published In 1992 • Pages: 109-127
By: Wetering, Wilhelmina van.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
In this article, Wetering examines new forms of demon possession among the Ndyuka and relates it to the changing social relations wrought by the state and market economy. The BAKUU, or demons, were imported from the outside world, arriving with the golddiggers at the beginning of the century. They are more mechanical than human and exhibit an uncontrolled aggressiveness. They can be bought and bribed to invade one or more victims, resulting in sickness and death. Religious centers were established to contain BAKUU possession. In the 1960s and 70s the BAKUU began to possess women, exclusively. According to Wetering, this lastest manifestation of BAKUU possession reflected the ambivalency surrounding women, who now traveled to and from the coast, trading and buying commodities. Describing one exorcism surrounding a difficult birth, Wetering shows how a woman was able to resist a witchcraft accusation. Demons, he concludes, thrive on the dividing line between new and old worlds, and successful and unsuccessful lives.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Acculturation and culture contact
- Magical and mental therapy
- General character of religion
- Spirits and gods
- Revelation and divination
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Ndyuka
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 1999
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- South America
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Amazon and Orinoco
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Ian Skoggard ; 1997
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1991
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1920-1991
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Suriname and French Guiana
- NotesAdditional notes
- Wilhelmina van Wetering
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 126-127)
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Djuka people