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https://doi.org/10.11588/iqas.2018.3-4.9342
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Water Spirit Possession among the Khasis: Representation of Fear through Narratives
[journal article]
Abstract This article argues that genre markers employed in oral narratives about possession by water spirits serve to exemplify human / non-human relations in Khasi supernatural ontology. It is not the aim of this work to add to the existing corpus of theories on narrative genre studies, but to try to analy... view more
This article argues that genre markers employed in oral narratives about possession by water spirits serve to exemplify human / non-human relations in Khasi supernatural ontology. It is not the aim of this work to add to the existing corpus of theories on narrative genre studies, but to try to analyse how genre boundaries within the Khasi language help shape and articulate relationality, interaction and participation between humans and entities of water. The article elucidates the way in which the "supernatural" world is understood and mediated through the mechanism of fear and its absence, as manifested in the narratives. Through case studies collected during primary fieldwork from various interlocutors from different parts of the Khasi and Jaintia Hills, attitudes towards entities identified as sourced from the Khasi traditional religion help to create and shape the "new" frames of Christianity, urbanisation and modernity within which these entities operate.... view less
Classification
Ethnology, Cultural Anthropology, Ethnosociology
Free Keywords
Northeast India; Khasi; water spirits; puri; narratives; folklore
Document language
English
Publication Year
2018
Page/Pages
p. 81-102
Journal
International Quarterly for Asian Studies (IQAS), 49 (2018) 3-4
Issue topic
Fear and Fright in South Asian Religion and Society
ISSN
2566-6878
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed
Licence
Creative Commons - Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0