The Devil Is Disorder: Bodies, Spirits And Misfortune In A Trinidadian Village Hardcover

Rebecca Lynch

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.

1789204879

9781789204872

English

Berghahn Books

10 January 2020

282

Rebecca Lynch is a Research Fellow at King's College London and has worked as a medical anthropologist on a number of UK public health and health services research projects. She has edited three books that seek to expand approaches to the body and health through examinations of the cosmological, and relationships between human health and technologies.

"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