The Sorcerer as Folk Devil in Contemporary Melanesia

This chapter ethnographically explores a Christian revival movement in Vanuatu led by children. Examining events surrounding the hanging of two adults accused of sorcery, the text challenges the assumption that moral panics are only created with the assistance of mass media. Instead, the chapter shows that they also arise in contexts where gossip, dreams and visions play a similar role in both defining social problems and moral panic.

End-of-life dreams and visions as perceived by palliative care professionals: A qualitative study

Objective End-of-life dreams and visions (ELDVs) have been suggested to be prevalent psychic phenomena near death that can provide meaning and comfort for the dying. There is a lack of studies from the secular Nordic countries. The aim of this study was to determine whether palliative care professionals in a Nordic country have experience of patients expressing dreams, visions, and/or inner experiences and, if so, how they are perceived. Method Focus-group interviews with 18 professionals in end-of-life palliative care were subjected to qualitative content analysis. Results Most (15/18) professionals had experience of patients with ELDVs. A dominant content was deceased loved ones. According to most professionals, many patients perceived their ELDVs as real and could report them with clarity. The experience could result in peacefulness for patients, as well as loved ones, and reduce fear of death. Some professionals themselves perceived ELDVs to be real and a normal part of dying while a few found them scary. Most professionals, however, found ELDVs hard to grasp. Many tried to explain the phenomena as the result of medical circumstances and confusion, although reporting that they considered most patients to be normal and of sound mind in connection with their reports on ELDVs. Most patients wanted to talk about their ELDVs, but some could be reluctant due to fear of being considered crazy. The professionals were open-minded and reported having no problem talking about it with the patients and tried to normalize the experience thereby calming the patient and loved ones. Significance of results The results strengthen the suggestion that ELDVs are common phenomena near death, worldwide. Although most professionals in palliative care recognized ELDVs as beneficial to patients, many found the phenomena hard to grasp and sometimes difficult to distinguish from confusion, indicating a continuous need for exploration and education.

Liminal minds

The concept of liminality was first introduced by Arnold van Gennep in Rites de Passage in 1909. There, he observed the rites of passage or transformative rituals of social life (such as weddings, funerals, initiation rites, etc.). Liminality was described as the psychic and emotional state in-between one social status and another, in a state of ambiguity, disorientation and loss of fixed identity. In my research, I adopt the concept of liminality not in the classical anthropological sense but rather in a personal sense. I am interested in personal journeys, often secret transitions and transgressions, usually accompanied by dreams and visions placing persons outside of the society, alienating and excluding them. Yet, I believe liminality to be the state of creativity and I am interested in its transformative potential.

Analyse der Struktur des masoretischen und nicht-masoretischen Danielbuches (MT-Dan und LXX967-Dan) unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Zeitangaben

This article focuses on the different structures of the main variant literary editions of Daniel (MT-Dan and LXX967-Dan). In MT-Dan, the text moves from the story about Daniel (Dan 1–6) to Daniel’s extensive reports about his dreams and visions (Dan 7–12), thus making the voice of Daniel the dominant one in the book. The textual sequence of the edition represented by LXX967-Dan differs significantly, since chapters 7–8 are placed behind chapter 4. Furthermore, this edition includes several additions (as BelDrag, Sus and an epilogue). In this edition, chronology is the prominent organizing principle of the text (at least with regard to the main chapters 1–12). Consequently, the dominant voice throughout the book is the voice of the book narrator. Whereas MT-Dan may be described as the book of Daniel, LXX967-Dan appears as a biographic book about Daniel, which should primarily serve, according to the epilogue, as an instruction for the youth in the Jewish Diaspora.