The hidden contract

Possession and
witchcraft

Sticking to reality

Mourning
Being a grown-up


Vincent Elouard
C.V.

Version française

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Educators facing the notions of

Possession and witchcraft

in foreign cultures

Possession, genies, demons, witchcraft … these are notions that are familiar in some cultures, but which can confuse most educators.
       What kind of attitude should be adopted? Does one has to believe in it, to deny it, or to patiently wait for the other person to finish stating their "beliefs"?

This workshop wants the educators to get familiar with such notions. What is a genie? In which case is a genie defined as evil? If the Wolofs pretend being possessed by the rab, does it mean the same that someone is maajnoun in Maghreb?

The following notions will therefore be examined during the session:

To minimize, actually, or to deny these links with the beyond can unbalance a person, up to getting them lose their cultural marks. Many persons, in such cultures, do not only define themselves according to the physical world, but rely, on a psychic basis, on invisible marks. It is therefore important to understand the relationships with the beyond in the different cultures, and their relationships to magic and possession.

It appears as well that the terms of possession are used in psychiatry, or at least cover similar notions. Therefore similarities between the diagnosis made by the medical doctors and by the ones which deal with possession, or witchcraft, will be examined.

Some cases will be presented, and the examples brought up by the educators will be studied within these new aspects. We will then see the best attitude to adopt to lead the persons who are in such a definition of possession or witchcraft to fit better to their present context, without loosing all their existential and cultural marks.