Michele Stephens
Biographic Data
| ID | 3621672 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Michele Stephens |
| GIVEN NAMES | Michele |
| FAMILY NAME | Stephens |
| SIGNATURE | STEPHENS M |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 99 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1991 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
The yogic art of dying, Kundalinī yoga, and the Balinese pitra yadnya
This article proposes that the complex public rituals of the Balinese pitra yadnya (sacrifices for the ancestors) can be understood as a localized form of Laya yoga, through which the dead person is instructed and assisted in the yogic art of dying. The arguments are based on recent, detailed ethnographic observations of the pitra yadnya, textual evidence, and comparisons with western studies of Laya and Kundalinī yoga
Returning to original form; A central dynamic in Balinese ritual
Descriptions by western scholars of Balinese religious beliefs and rituals have long been dominated by images of balance, harmony and order. Anthropologist Hildred Geertz (1995) has recently challenged these well established stereotypes, suggesting that concerns with spiritual or magical powers, and transformations of such powers, are more relevant for making sense of the puzzling and dazzling variety of Balinese religious life than are concepts …
Reparation and the Gift
This article argues that Melanie Klein's theories of primary indebtedness to the mother and the need for reparation can extend Freudian insights concerning the anal significance of gifts, thus providing an answer to Mauss's original question: "What force is there in the thing given which compels the recipient to make a return?" Kleinian theory can also account for the fact that gifts wound, that the donors triumph, that gifts may be made only to …
Shamanism, Psychosis and Autonomous Imagination
Witchcraft, Grief, and the Ambivalence of Emotions
In this article, I argue that Melanie Klein's psychoanalytic theory of mourning can shed new light on an old anthropological topic: witchcraft and sorcery. Beginning with sociocentric analyses of sorcery and witchcraft, and linking these beliefs to the experiential context of grief and bereavement, I focus on two ethnographic case studies-Balinese witchcraft and Mekeo sorcery. I use Klein's theory of mourning to extend Freud's concept of the ambi…
Devouring the Mother: A Kleinian Perspective on Necrophagia and Corpse Abuse in Mortuary Ritual
This article argues that the ethnography of corpse abuse and mortuary cannibalism takes on new significance in the context of a Kleinian psychoanalytic paradigm. Kleinian theory suggests that such practices are not merely culturally approved outlets for aggression but explicable in terms of the mourning process itself which involves a complex interaction between unconscious guilt and the need to make reparation. From this perspective, one can und…
Cargo Cults, Cultural Creativity, and Autonomous Imagination
This article draws attention to the ways in which Western psychiatric models of psychopathology applied to the so-called "Cargo cults" of Melanesia have served to endorse colonial and cultural discourses of power. It argues that while the ethnographic evidence indicates the positive and creative potential of such movements, Western assumptions concerning irrationality and the unconscious mind obscure this potential. The concept of autonomous imag…
A'aisa's Gifts: A Study of Magic and the Self
Filled with insight, provocative in its conclusions, A'aisa's Gifts is a groundbreaking ethnography of the Mekeo of Papua New Guinea and a valuable contribution to anthropological theory. Based on twenty years' fieldwork, this richly detailed study of Mekeo esoteric knowledge, cosmology, and self-conceptualizations recasts accepted notions about magic and selfhood. Drawing on accounts by Mekeo ritual experts and laypersons, this is the first book…
The Sacred Self: A Cultural Phenomenology of Charismatic Healing
Dreams and Self-Knowledge among the Mekeo of Papua New Guinea
"The Mekeo "man of sorrow: Sorcery and the Individuation of the Self
The pervasiveness of sorcery and witchcraft beliefs in Melanesia is well documented. Recent discussions of Melanesian concepts of person and self, emphasizing their "divisibility" and lack of boundedness, help to explain why Melanesians feel so vulnerable to intrusions and invasions by other, more powerful selves. This article explores the process whereby a man assumes the role of sorcerer, or "man of sorrow," in Mekeo society. In describing how …
The Religious Imagination in New Guinea
Explores various expressions of religious fervour such as shamanism, trances, possession, witchcraft and cult activity. Using cultural anthropology and psychoanalysis as a base, the contributors ask how religious imagination connects concepts of the self to ideas of the sacred
A'aisa's Gifts: A Study of Magic and the Self
Filled with insight, provocative in its conclusions, A'aisa's Gifts is a groundbreaking ethnography of the Mekeo of Papua New Guinea and a valuable contribution to anthropological theory. Based on twenty years' fieldwork, this richly detailed study of Mekeo esoteric knowledge, cosmology, and self-conceptualizations recasts accepted notions about magic and selfhood. Drawing on accounts by Mekeo ritual experts and laypersons, this is the first book…
"The Mekeo "man of sorrow: Sorcery and the Individuation of the Self
The pervasiveness of sorcery and witchcraft beliefs in Melanesia is well documented. Recent discussions of Melanesian concepts of person and self, emphasizing their "divisibility" and lack of boundedness, help to explain why Melanesians feel so vulnerable to intrusions and invasions by other, more powerful selves. This article explores the process whereby a man assumes the role of sorcerer, or "man of sorrow," in Mekeo society. In describing how …
Witchcraft, Grief, and the Ambivalence of Emotions
In this article, I argue that Melanie Klein's psychoanalytic theory of mourning can shed new light on an old anthropological topic: witchcraft and sorcery. Beginning with sociocentric analyses of sorcery and witchcraft, and linking these beliefs to the experiential context of grief and bereavement, I focus on two ethnographic case studies-Balinese witchcraft and Mekeo sorcery. I use Klein's theory of mourning to extend Freud's concept of the ambi…
Shamanism, Psychosis and Autonomous Imagination
Cargo Cults, Cultural Creativity, and Autonomous Imagination
This article draws attention to the ways in which Western psychiatric models of psychopathology applied to the so-called "Cargo cults" of Melanesia have served to endorse colonial and cultural discourses of power. It argues that while the ethnographic evidence indicates the positive and creative potential of such movements, Western assumptions concerning irrationality and the unconscious mind obscure this potential. The concept of autonomous imag…
The Religious Imagination in New Guinea
Explores various expressions of religious fervour such as shamanism, trances, possession, witchcraft and cult activity. Using cultural anthropology and psychoanalysis as a base, the contributors ask how religious imagination connects concepts of the self to ideas of the sacred
The yogic art of dying, Kundalinī yoga, and the Balinese pitra yadnya
This article proposes that the complex public rituals of the Balinese pitra yadnya (sacrifices for the ancestors) can be understood as a localized form of Laya yoga, through which the dead person is instructed and assisted in the yogic art of dying. The arguments are based on recent, detailed ethnographic observations of the pitra yadnya, textual evidence, and comparisons with western studies of Laya and Kundalinī yoga
Returning to original form; A central dynamic in Balinese ritual
Descriptions by western scholars of Balinese religious beliefs and rituals have long been dominated by images of balance, harmony and order. Anthropologist Hildred Geertz (1995) has recently challenged these well established stereotypes, suggesting that concerns with spiritual or magical powers, and transformations of such powers, are more relevant for making sense of the puzzling and dazzling variety of Balinese religious life than are concepts …
Devouring the Mother: A Kleinian Perspective on Necrophagia and Corpse Abuse in Mortuary Ritual
This article argues that the ethnography of corpse abuse and mortuary cannibalism takes on new significance in the context of a Kleinian psychoanalytic paradigm. Kleinian theory suggests that such practices are not merely culturally approved outlets for aggression but explicable in terms of the mourning process itself which involves a complex interaction between unconscious guilt and the need to make reparation. From this perspective, one can und…
Dreams and Self-Knowledge among the Mekeo of Papua New Guinea
Reparation and the Gift
This article argues that Melanie Klein's theories of primary indebtedness to the mother and the need for reparation can extend Freudian insights concerning the anal significance of gifts, thus providing an answer to Mauss's original question: "What force is there in the thing given which compels the recipient to make a return?" Kleinian theory can also account for the fact that gifts wound, that the donors triumph, that gifts may be made only to …
The Religious Imagination in New Guinea
Explores various expressions of religious fervour such as shamanism, trances, possession, witchcraft and cult activity. Using cultural anthropology and psychoanalysis as a base, the contributors ask how religious imagination connects concepts of the self to ideas of the sacred
A'aisa's Gifts: A Study of Magic and the Self
Filled with insight, provocative in its conclusions, A'aisa's Gifts is a groundbreaking ethnography of the Mekeo of Papua New Guinea and a valuable contribution to anthropological theory. Based on twenty years' fieldwork, this richly detailed study of Mekeo esoteric knowledge, cosmology, and self-conceptualizations recasts accepted notions about magic and selfhood. Drawing on accounts by Mekeo ritual experts and laypersons, this is the first book…
The Sacred Self: A Cultural Phenomenology of Charismatic Healing
Dreams and Self-Knowledge among the Mekeo of Papua New Guinea
"The Mekeo "man of sorrow: Sorcery and the Individuation of the Self
The pervasiveness of sorcery and witchcraft beliefs in Melanesia is well documented. Recent discussions of Melanesian concepts of person and self, emphasizing their "divisibility" and lack of boundedness, help to explain why Melanesians feel so vulnerable to intrusions and invasions by other, more powerful selves. This article explores the process whereby a man assumes the role of sorcerer, or "man of sorrow," in Mekeo society. In describing how …
Cargo Cults, Cultural Creativity, and Autonomous Imagination
This article draws attention to the ways in which Western psychiatric models of psychopathology applied to the so-called "Cargo cults" of Melanesia have served to endorse colonial and cultural discourses of power. It argues that while the ethnographic evidence indicates the positive and creative potential of such movements, Western assumptions concerning irrationality and the unconscious mind obscure this potential. The concept of autonomous imag…
Devouring the Mother: A Kleinian Perspective on Necrophagia and Corpse Abuse in Mortuary Ritual
This article argues that the ethnography of corpse abuse and mortuary cannibalism takes on new significance in the context of a Kleinian psychoanalytic paradigm. Kleinian theory suggests that such practices are not merely culturally approved outlets for aggression but explicable in terms of the mourning process itself which involves a complex interaction between unconscious guilt and the need to make reparation. From this perspective, one can und…
Witchcraft, Grief, and the Ambivalence of Emotions
In this article, I argue that Melanie Klein's psychoanalytic theory of mourning can shed new light on an old anthropological topic: witchcraft and sorcery. Beginning with sociocentric analyses of sorcery and witchcraft, and linking these beliefs to the experiential context of grief and bereavement, I focus on two ethnographic case studies-Balinese witchcraft and Mekeo sorcery. I use Klein's theory of mourning to extend Freud's concept of the ambi…
Reparation and the Gift
This article argues that Melanie Klein's theories of primary indebtedness to the mother and the need for reparation can extend Freudian insights concerning the anal significance of gifts, thus providing an answer to Mauss's original question: "What force is there in the thing given which compels the recipient to make a return?" Kleinian theory can also account for the fact that gifts wound, that the donors triumph, that gifts may be made only to …
Shamanism, Psychosis and Autonomous Imagination
Returning to original form; A central dynamic in Balinese ritual
Descriptions by western scholars of Balinese religious beliefs and rituals have long been dominated by images of balance, harmony and order. Anthropologist Hildred Geertz (1995) has recently challenged these well established stereotypes, suggesting that concerns with spiritual or magical powers, and transformations of such powers, are more relevant for making sense of the puzzling and dazzling variety of Balinese religious life than are concepts …
The yogic art of dying, Kundalinī yoga, and the Balinese pitra yadnya
This article proposes that the complex public rituals of the Balinese pitra yadnya (sacrifices for the ancestors) can be understood as a localized form of Laya yoga, through which the dead person is instructed and assisted in the yogic art of dying. The arguments are based on recent, detailed ethnographic observations of the pitra yadnya, textual evidence, and comparisons with western studies of Laya and Kundalinī yoga
Psychology (12 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Aesthetics (7 works) · Anthropology (7 works) · Art (7 works) · Epistemology (7 works) · Philosophy (7 works) · History (6 works) · Philosophy (6 works) · Anthropological Studies and Insights (5 works)