Permeable Bodies: Posession in Dersim

Year 2018, Volume: 1 Issue: 1, 39 - 45, 30.09.2018

Gülkızılca Yürür

Abstract

Abstract: The local etiology of mental disorders in the Alevi healing tradition of Dersim point to intruders from

mystical realms, “mılaket”, who posess human selves with a weakened sense of personal will. Liminal temporalities

and spaces are categorized as providing the setting for symbiotic encounters between the human selves and nonselves.

In this work, a short introduction into the local belief on posession will be provided. The actual operation

of agency in the experience of posession is exemplified on the narrative account of a local healthcare officer, who

stands between modern medicine and the local healing tradition. The co-existence of biomedicine and Alevi

healing tradition in Dersim is less burdened by the necessity of “trans-cultural translation”, as many of the practicing

biomedical professionals and administrative workers in healthcare are rooted in the Dersim Alevi culture. The reason

for the possibility of co-existence can be that, the marcation lines between biomedicine and Alevi healing tradition

is drawn by Dersim Alevi healthcare professionals themselves.

Keywords

Medical pluralism, spirit posession, Alevi healing tradition, Dersim, subjectivity, liminality

References

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