A celebration of demons: Exorcism and the aesthetics of healing in Sri Lanka

by Bruce Kapferer

The Sinhalese exorcism rituals are perhaps the most complex and the most magnificent in performance still extant. For this second edition, the author has written a new preface and introduction in which he argues that the techniques of healing in Sri Lanka and the aesthetics of this healing cannot be reduced to Western psychoanalytic or psychotherapeutic terms, and develops new and original approaches to ritual and the aesthetic in general.

Genres: Anthropology, Religion

293 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1983

About the author

B.A. University of Sydney 1963
PhD University of Manchester 1969

Academic Positions: Commonwealth Scholar & Research Affiliate, Rhodes Livingstone Institute (later Institute For African Studies), Zambia 1963-1966; Lecturer, Senior Lecturer , University of Manchester 1966-1973; Foundation Professor, University of Adelaide 1973-1985; Professor, University College London 1985 -1996; Foundation Professor, James Cook University 1996 - 1999, Professor, University of Bergen 1999 to date.

Kapferer has held Fellowships at Center For Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences, Palo Alto; Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies, Wassenaar; Institute For Advanced Studies, Hebrew University; and Centre for Cultural Research, Aarhus. He has held posts of Visiting Professor at University of California, Los Angeles; University of Stockholm; University of Copenhagen, and University of Goteborg.

Fieldwork: Zambia (rural Bisa, miners and commercial workers) 1963-1966; Sri Lanka (Buddhist healing rites, nationalism and violence) 1972 and continuing; Australia (Australian Aborigines, White Australian nationalism, state forms) 1974 to date; Globalisation (specific reference to Sri Lanka, Kerala (India), South Africa) 1998 to date.

Current research: Ritual and the structure of healing among Sinhalese Buddhists. A major concern is with the theory of ritual. Comparative research is being conducted among teyyam specialists in northern Kerala. A major current concern is in the dynamics of ancient and modern state forms with particular reference to contemporary global processes. Comparative research is being conducted in India, Sri Lanka, South Africa and in Australia with particular attention to nationalism, violence, shifts in bureuacratic and corporate structures, NGOs etc.