Understanding the Divine Kingdoms of the Western Himalaya: Anthropology, Theology, and the Ontological Turn.

Presenter:

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Abstract

Proponents of the so-called “ontological turn"in anthropology suggest that anthropologists should (finally!) take local beliefs seriously. This becomes particularly difficult with regard to religion, as it obliges the anthropologist to make a theological judgement to the effect that local gods, demons, and other non-visible beings are “real”. This leads in turn to theoretical and methodological problems regarding agency, intentionality, and the connections (or lack of them) between various ontological “worlds”.
Based on twenty rears of research on West Himalayan ?divine kingdoms? ruled by local deities through their human oracles, I attempt to respond to these problems with a model of “multiple worlds” that calls into question rigid distinctions between theology, anthropology, psychology/psychiatry and history.