Ghost Riders of Upper Egypt

A Study of Spirit Possession

By: Hans A. Winkler, Nicholas S. Hopkins (Translator)

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Paperback | 15 January 2009

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This book offers a classic anthropological case study from the 1930s, translated into English for the first time. In 1933 the German anthropologist Hans Alexander Winkler came across a 'spirit medium' named Abdel Radi in a village near Luxor in Upper Egypt. Abdel Radi was periodically possessed by the ghost of his uncle, and in that state passed messages to those who came to seek help. In an intense study, Winkler lays out the construction of the world shared by the rural people, with its saints and pilgrims, snake-charmers and wandering holy men, all under the overarching power of God, and shows how Abdel Radi's mediumship made sense in that context. Winkler's book was ahead of its time in analyzing a single institution in its social context, and in showing the debates and disagreements about the meaning of such strange events. His study was overlooked for many years, and has now been brought back into circulation by this translation.

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"This multilayered study from the 1930s was precocious in its method and conclusions, and thus it retains its relevance today not only for Egyptian folklore but also for the history of anthropology in Egypt." - from the Introduction by Nicholas S. Hopkins"

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Introduction	p. 1
Map	p. 12
Preface	p. 15
The Environment of 'Abd al-Radi	p. 19
The Landscape and the People around 'Abd al-Radi	p. 21
'Abd al-Radi's Religious Environment	p. 25
Popular Religion and Islam	p. 25
The Human Body	p. 26
Ghosts and Demons	p. 29
Magic and Ordeals	p. 36
Folk Medicine	p. 37
The Shaykh Cult: The Holy and the Dead	p. 40
The Image of the World and Islam	p. 54
'Abd al-Radi	p. 63
'Abd al-Radi's Origins	p. 65
'Abd al-Radi's Life History before the Big Illness	p. 71
From the Big Illness to the Call	p. 73
The Call and the Irregular Possessions in the First Period	p. 75
Regular Possession Episodes	p. 83
Time and Place	p. 83
Beginning and Ending of Possession	p. 84
The Spirits of Possession	p. 87
A Double Possession	p. 101
Personally Received Messages as Illustrations of the Clairvoyance of the Possessed	p. 104
The Impact of the Possessed on the Religious and Social Life of the Fellahin	p. 113
'Abd al-Radi's Situation in the Eyes of the Fellahin	p. 113
The Possessed as Spokesman for the Dead	p. 115
The Possessed as Advisor in Illness	p. 116
The Possessed as Advisor and Arbiter of Legal Matters and Other Social Affairs	p. 124
'Abd al-Radi as a Central Point in Fellahin Society	p. 128
A Dervish	p. 129
The Shrine	p. 132
The Priesthood	p. 136
'Abd al-Radi's Character	p. 139
'Abd al-Radi's Subjective Relationship to his Ghostly Spirits	p. 145
The Relationship between 'Abd al-Radi's Waking Consciousness and the Possession Situation	p. 149
Conclusion	p. 157
Index	p. 161
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Ghost Riders of Upper Egypt

A Study of Spirit Possession

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