In this paper talk, part of the Gatty Lecture Series, Megan Sinnott (Associate Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Georgia State University) discusses the Thai spirit world. In contemporary Thailand, new and transformed spiritual and religious practices are thriving within a capitalist market structure. The human body plays a central role within these spiritual practices, as both an object of devotion (such as the sacralization of human remains) and as the site of communication with the spirit world through mediumship and possession. This talk focuses on the possibilities provided by the market for shifting sensibilities around the body, and material objects as body-substitutes, such as the popularity of “angel-dolls” in the practice of child-spirit beliefs.

Capitalism is often perceived as an obliterating, colonizing force; when its traces are found in religious and spiritual practices it is easy to come to the conclusion that these practices are somehow lessened, or cheapened, by their commodification. Sinnot wants to resist this temptation, and ask instead, what are the cultural meanings associated with transformed spiritual practices and the material objects integral to these practices? If these commodified objects, such as amulets and other material objects of devotion, are also objects of desire – compelling forms that inspire delight and interest – how can we understand them as both “authentic” sacred objects and products of the capitalist marketplace?

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