Synopses & Reviews
Written as an informal first-person narrative, Samba in the Nightis an absorbing account of an anthropologist's fieldwork and explorations into alternative religions in Brazil that invites the reader into the mysterious world of spirit mediums, poltergeists, psychic surgery, exorcism, and spiritual healing.
Hess provides colorful descriptions of rituals and at the same time weaves in a detective story about the complex relations between Spiritism and the rest of their world. Through a variety of anecdotes about spirit mediums, doctors, engineers, lawmakers, Jesuits, and past-life therapists, the book offers an introduction to Brazilian religons and society as well as to the art of anthropological fieldwork.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [205]-209) and index.