The Devil is Disorder: Bodies, Spirits and Misfortune in a Trinidadian Village | BERGHAHN BOOKS
Join our Email List Berghahn Books Logo

berghahn New York · Oxford

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Instagram
Browse
The Devil is Disorder: Bodies, Spirits and Misfortune in a Trinidadian Village

View Table of Contents




See Related
Anthropology Journals

Email Newsletters

Sign up for our email newsletters to get customized updates on new Berghahn publications.

Click here to select your preferences

The Devil is Disorder

Bodies, Spirits and Misfortune in a Trinidadian Village

Rebecca Lynch

282 pages, 20 illus., bibliog., index

ISBN  978-1-78920-487-2 $135.00/£99.00 / Hb / Published (January 2020)

eISBN 978-1-78920-488-9 eBook

https://doi.org/10.3167/9781789204872


View CartYour country: - edit Request a Review or Examination Copy (in Digital Format)Recommend to your LibraryAvailable in GOBI®

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, University College 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

Description

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.

Rebecca Lynch is Research Fellow in Medical Anthropology at King’s College London. She completed her PhD in Social Anthropology at University College 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.

Subject: Medical AnthropologyAnthropology of ReligionSociology
Area: Latin America and the Caribbean


Contents

Back to Top



Library Recommendation Form

Dear Librarian,

I would like to recommend The Devil is Disorder Bodies, Spirits and Misfortune in a Trinidadian Village for the library. Please include it in your next purchasing review with my strong recommendation. The RRP is: $135.00

I recommend this title for the following reasons:

BENEFIT FOR THE LIBRARY: This book will be a valuable addition to the library's collection.

REFERENCE: I will refer to this book for my research/teaching work.

STUDENT REFERRAL: I will regularly refer my students to the book to assist their studies.

OWN AFFILIATION: I am an editor/contributor to this book or another book in the Series (where applicable) and/or on the Editorial Board of the Series, of which this volume is part.