I hold a BSc and an Msc from the London School of Economics, and a PhD in Social Anthropology from University College London. For my thesis I studied Cuban Creole forms of spiritism, and the role of the dead in Afro-Cuban religion. I did my post-doc at the University of Lisbon (and later, at the New University of Lisbon) on cosmological plasticity in Afro-Brazilian Umbanda, working mainly in Rio de Janeiro, in collaboration with the Museu Nacional. In Chile I have worked on technologies, historicity and paranormal research in trauma sites. Research at these three sites has resulted in the publication of three monographs and several co-edited books. A more recent project has taken my interests into the realm of bizarre or absurd experiences in Chilean ufology and their implications for anthropological theory. A book about the absurd and the limits of anthropological knowledge will be published by Routledge in 2024. My most recent work returns to the trauma of the Chilean dictatorship and ways of re-organizing time through performance and theater.
Extraordinary experiences are often explained by social science in terms that refer to more "real... more Extraordinary experiences are often explained by social science in terms that refer to more "real" phenomena, such as socioeconomic plight, psychopathology, or spiritual forms of socialization. Some scholars use words such as "supernatural" to describe these phenomena (Saler, 1977); others have focused on the ways bodies move in the world, feel, and attune to certain "somatic modes of attention" (Csordas, 1994; Jackson, 1989). But in certain circumstances, neither interlocutor nor anthropologist can really trust what they are seeing or experiencing. There is what Pickering has described-in relation to
Th rough two signifi cantly distinct ethnographic case studies, both based in Santiago, Chile, we... more Th rough two signifi cantly distinct ethnographic case studies, both based in Santiago, Chile, we argue for the need to attend to experiences which are not conceptualised by our interlocutors, or that remain 'dark' in terms of their ontological and representational properties. We point out that anthropology has been ill-equipped to deal with these ineff able margins, and point to conceptual arches which could be used transversally in what we call a 'dark anthropology'. The two fields in question here are the ufological 'absurd' and early mothering experiences among low-income communities. What both have in common is that they defy anthropological fi gure-ground logics, where experiences are explained via their social contexts. We argue for an anthropology that can come to grips with non-linear, sometimes dark, socialities.
In this paper, I analyze a Chilean mining geoanalyst's narrative about large unrecognized geoglyp... more In this paper, I analyze a Chilean mining geoanalyst's narrative about large unrecognized geoglyphs he has charted in the Atacama Desert. The turns of this narrative take us through the Ancient Aliens hypothesis, but also an alterative pre-Inca migration route between the Atlantic and the Pacific thousands of years old, and in contravention to normative Andean archaeology. I argue that we need to look at alternative forms of history making that are not based on ontologically realist premises. Using Kleinberg s notion of 'past possibles', based on Derrida's theory of historical deconstruction, I defend that in the mining expert´s narrative coexist a multiplicity of possible pasts, in oscillation between latent and manifest. I also look at the Desert itself, and its extractive industries, as well as a notion of 'extreme' in relation to temporal thinking, arguing that it is not enough to see the narrative on aliens as a result of neoliberal capitalist exploitation.
The figure of the Revolutionary or independence fighter, or indeed the Afro-Cuban maroon, is a fu... more The figure of the Revolutionary or independence fighter, or indeed the Afro-Cuban maroon, is a fundamental trope of efficacy in Cuban Spiritism. But the question of the vestiges, or residues of resistance and ruin in bodies is an interesting one to ask in the light of Cuba's socialist Revolution and its obvious traces of trauma in people's bodies. I will look at two cases, in different historical periods, that understand Revolution as a material dimension of the body; in the first case as a molecular structure of the body enmeshed with the dead-which must be necessarily disentangled; in the second case, as an attrition, a worn-out ideal, which, when manifest as the disenchanted, pragmatic street-wise spirits of a post-1980s Cuba, perpetuate the remnants of something "lost" in people's sensory experiences. In both cases I will follow Kristina Wirtz's proposal of applying the concept of "chronotopes" to Afro-Cuban religion, as well as looking at affect as an intensive force that manifests as a bodily awareness of Revolution modulated through states of possession. Résumé : Dans le spiritisme cubain, la figure du révolutionnaire, du combattant de l'indépendance ou encore du marron afro-cubain est un trope fondamental d'une grande efficacité. Néanmoins, il est intéressant de poser la question des vestiges, des résidus de résistance et des ruines, à la lumière de la Révolution socialiste cubaine et des traces visibles de traumatisme qu'elle a laissées sur les corps des individus. Dans cet article, j'examine deux cas, correspondant à des périodes historiques différentes, dans lesquels la Révolution apparait comme une dimension matérielle du corps : dans le premier cas, la Révolution est une structure moléculaire du corps entremêlée avec les morts-laquelle doit nécessairement être démêlée ; dans le second cas, elle est une usure, un idéal usé, qui, lorsqu'ils se manifestent sous la forme des esprits désabusés,
In this article I look at Chilean paranormal investigators in the capital-Santiago-and their appa... more In this article I look at Chilean paranormal investigators in the capital-Santiago-and their apparatuses. I argue that these recording devices appear somehow as "vibrant" things, but they work in conjunction with others creating articulate living worlds. The first argument is that these articulations are made salient through sonic atmospheres-universes of sound that envelope a particular temporal moment, and that escape any single person's volition or control. These atmospheres create sonic reverberations, in effect, momentary cosmologies, that bend, curve, and extend into the lives of the investigators that engage with them. My second argument is that these sonic atmospheres create worlds that are not taken for granted but subject to controversy, varying interpretations and sometimes, stabilizing concordances, and that need to be "transduced".
In this article I use my ethnographic data on an Afro-Cuban religion called Palo Monte to argue t... more In this article I use my ethnographic data on an Afro-Cuban religion called Palo Monte to argue that ontologically discrepant 'bits' of the cosmos can become stuck together for particular purposes, at times producing 'synchronicities'. I argue that the practitioners of this religion, Paleros, can be trained into producing synchronicities in the form of witchcraft. This coheres with a concept of self that can be seen as an assemblage rather than an essence. This article contributes to a person-centered theory of plasticity in relation to discussions on lenience. In Palo, discipline does not lie in molding one's subjectivity or in searching for a deep self. Lenience is imperative as the principle with which the self articulates with its environment and itself.
As a technology for the production of historicized spirit forms, espiritismo continually forges i... more As a technology for the production of historicized spirit forms, espiritismo continually forges its own cosmology from the raw materials of a Cuban syncretistic imagination, with permutations of figures such as the " Congo " and the " Indio " bringing its more visible agencies to the forefront. These yield extensive material forms—dolls, statues, photographs , altars, vessels, and consumables. In this article I ask whether understandings of the " substance " of spirits are tied to, or yield, concepts of the self, and vice-versa. Are selves " deeper, " more connected to the " beyond, " if the spirits are anonymouss Are they " flatter " and more material, the more aesthetically personalized they become? In order to answer these questions I explore two ethnographic contexts divided by ontological assumptions as well as by practitioners. The first is a " scientific " spiritist society, and the second is made up of individuals who worship Chinese spirits from their extended families. Each context exemplifies an extreme of personalization and distance.
In this article I argue for alternative models to understanding the relationship of spirit cosmol... more In this article I argue for alternative models to understanding the relationship of spirit cosmologies to their social surround. In my ethnography, I show that fluidity and plasticity are central to a particular urban sector of the Brazilian spirit religion of Umbanda. Some contemporary Umbandists, particularly in the city of São Paulo, see that " culture, " read as the Brazilian historical imaginary, becomes the stuff by which the spirits self-reflexively " clothe " themselves. However, using Don Handelman's division between cosmoses held together " from the inside " or " from the outside, " I also argue that Umbanda practitioners take varying degrees of openness and closure of their cosmology, including the urban sector I focus on, whose plastic cosmos is essentially ruptured, and thus needs to be " believed " in.
This article argues that in Cuban Creole espiritismo practices, ritually generated 'knowledge' ha... more This article argues that in Cuban Creole espiritismo practices, ritually generated 'knowledge' has ontological, rather than just epistemological, effects, independent of the role of cognition. I will show that knowledge is experienced as a fluid, moving 'substance' external to the body that can accumulate, weigh down, hang suspended, and dissipate; it is also responsive to mediums' descriptive speech, becoming an object of vision-knowledge at the same time that it is seen and spoken of collectively. I will also show that the circulation of knowledge 'substances' should be seen not as metaphorical but as tied to processes of making people, and ask whether knowledge can figure not just as something intersubjective or relational but as something substantive, even physiological.
Extraordinary experiences are often explained by social science in terms that refer to more "real... more Extraordinary experiences are often explained by social science in terms that refer to more "real" phenomena, such as socioeconomic plight, psychopathology, or spiritual forms of socialization. Some scholars use words such as "supernatural" to describe these phenomena (Saler, 1977); others have focused on the ways bodies move in the world, feel, and attune to certain "somatic modes of attention" (Csordas, 1994; Jackson, 1989). But in certain circumstances, neither interlocutor nor anthropologist can really trust what they are seeing or experiencing. There is what Pickering has described-in relation to
Th rough two signifi cantly distinct ethnographic case studies, both based in Santiago, Chile, we... more Th rough two signifi cantly distinct ethnographic case studies, both based in Santiago, Chile, we argue for the need to attend to experiences which are not conceptualised by our interlocutors, or that remain 'dark' in terms of their ontological and representational properties. We point out that anthropology has been ill-equipped to deal with these ineff able margins, and point to conceptual arches which could be used transversally in what we call a 'dark anthropology'. The two fields in question here are the ufological 'absurd' and early mothering experiences among low-income communities. What both have in common is that they defy anthropological fi gure-ground logics, where experiences are explained via their social contexts. We argue for an anthropology that can come to grips with non-linear, sometimes dark, socialities.
In this paper, I analyze a Chilean mining geoanalyst's narrative about large unrecognized geoglyp... more In this paper, I analyze a Chilean mining geoanalyst's narrative about large unrecognized geoglyphs he has charted in the Atacama Desert. The turns of this narrative take us through the Ancient Aliens hypothesis, but also an alterative pre-Inca migration route between the Atlantic and the Pacific thousands of years old, and in contravention to normative Andean archaeology. I argue that we need to look at alternative forms of history making that are not based on ontologically realist premises. Using Kleinberg s notion of 'past possibles', based on Derrida's theory of historical deconstruction, I defend that in the mining expert´s narrative coexist a multiplicity of possible pasts, in oscillation between latent and manifest. I also look at the Desert itself, and its extractive industries, as well as a notion of 'extreme' in relation to temporal thinking, arguing that it is not enough to see the narrative on aliens as a result of neoliberal capitalist exploitation.
The figure of the Revolutionary or independence fighter, or indeed the Afro-Cuban maroon, is a fu... more The figure of the Revolutionary or independence fighter, or indeed the Afro-Cuban maroon, is a fundamental trope of efficacy in Cuban Spiritism. But the question of the vestiges, or residues of resistance and ruin in bodies is an interesting one to ask in the light of Cuba's socialist Revolution and its obvious traces of trauma in people's bodies. I will look at two cases, in different historical periods, that understand Revolution as a material dimension of the body; in the first case as a molecular structure of the body enmeshed with the dead-which must be necessarily disentangled; in the second case, as an attrition, a worn-out ideal, which, when manifest as the disenchanted, pragmatic street-wise spirits of a post-1980s Cuba, perpetuate the remnants of something "lost" in people's sensory experiences. In both cases I will follow Kristina Wirtz's proposal of applying the concept of "chronotopes" to Afro-Cuban religion, as well as looking at affect as an intensive force that manifests as a bodily awareness of Revolution modulated through states of possession. Résumé : Dans le spiritisme cubain, la figure du révolutionnaire, du combattant de l'indépendance ou encore du marron afro-cubain est un trope fondamental d'une grande efficacité. Néanmoins, il est intéressant de poser la question des vestiges, des résidus de résistance et des ruines, à la lumière de la Révolution socialiste cubaine et des traces visibles de traumatisme qu'elle a laissées sur les corps des individus. Dans cet article, j'examine deux cas, correspondant à des périodes historiques différentes, dans lesquels la Révolution apparait comme une dimension matérielle du corps : dans le premier cas, la Révolution est une structure moléculaire du corps entremêlée avec les morts-laquelle doit nécessairement être démêlée ; dans le second cas, elle est une usure, un idéal usé, qui, lorsqu'ils se manifestent sous la forme des esprits désabusés,
In this article I look at Chilean paranormal investigators in the capital-Santiago-and their appa... more In this article I look at Chilean paranormal investigators in the capital-Santiago-and their apparatuses. I argue that these recording devices appear somehow as "vibrant" things, but they work in conjunction with others creating articulate living worlds. The first argument is that these articulations are made salient through sonic atmospheres-universes of sound that envelope a particular temporal moment, and that escape any single person's volition or control. These atmospheres create sonic reverberations, in effect, momentary cosmologies, that bend, curve, and extend into the lives of the investigators that engage with them. My second argument is that these sonic atmospheres create worlds that are not taken for granted but subject to controversy, varying interpretations and sometimes, stabilizing concordances, and that need to be "transduced".
In this article I use my ethnographic data on an Afro-Cuban religion called Palo Monte to argue t... more In this article I use my ethnographic data on an Afro-Cuban religion called Palo Monte to argue that ontologically discrepant 'bits' of the cosmos can become stuck together for particular purposes, at times producing 'synchronicities'. I argue that the practitioners of this religion, Paleros, can be trained into producing synchronicities in the form of witchcraft. This coheres with a concept of self that can be seen as an assemblage rather than an essence. This article contributes to a person-centered theory of plasticity in relation to discussions on lenience. In Palo, discipline does not lie in molding one's subjectivity or in searching for a deep self. Lenience is imperative as the principle with which the self articulates with its environment and itself.
As a technology for the production of historicized spirit forms, espiritismo continually forges i... more As a technology for the production of historicized spirit forms, espiritismo continually forges its own cosmology from the raw materials of a Cuban syncretistic imagination, with permutations of figures such as the " Congo " and the " Indio " bringing its more visible agencies to the forefront. These yield extensive material forms—dolls, statues, photographs , altars, vessels, and consumables. In this article I ask whether understandings of the " substance " of spirits are tied to, or yield, concepts of the self, and vice-versa. Are selves " deeper, " more connected to the " beyond, " if the spirits are anonymouss Are they " flatter " and more material, the more aesthetically personalized they become? In order to answer these questions I explore two ethnographic contexts divided by ontological assumptions as well as by practitioners. The first is a " scientific " spiritist society, and the second is made up of individuals who worship Chinese spirits from their extended families. Each context exemplifies an extreme of personalization and distance.
In this article I argue for alternative models to understanding the relationship of spirit cosmol... more In this article I argue for alternative models to understanding the relationship of spirit cosmologies to their social surround. In my ethnography, I show that fluidity and plasticity are central to a particular urban sector of the Brazilian spirit religion of Umbanda. Some contemporary Umbandists, particularly in the city of São Paulo, see that " culture, " read as the Brazilian historical imaginary, becomes the stuff by which the spirits self-reflexively " clothe " themselves. However, using Don Handelman's division between cosmoses held together " from the inside " or " from the outside, " I also argue that Umbanda practitioners take varying degrees of openness and closure of their cosmology, including the urban sector I focus on, whose plastic cosmos is essentially ruptured, and thus needs to be " believed " in.
This article argues that in Cuban Creole espiritismo practices, ritually generated 'knowledge' ha... more This article argues that in Cuban Creole espiritismo practices, ritually generated 'knowledge' has ontological, rather than just epistemological, effects, independent of the role of cognition. I will show that knowledge is experienced as a fluid, moving 'substance' external to the body that can accumulate, weigh down, hang suspended, and dissipate; it is also responsive to mediums' descriptive speech, becoming an object of vision-knowledge at the same time that it is seen and spoken of collectively. I will also show that the circulation of knowledge 'substances' should be seen not as metaphorical but as tied to processes of making people, and ask whether knowledge can figure not just as something intersubjective or relational but as something substantive, even physiological.
Spirited Histories combines ethnography with critical theory to provide a sophisticated explorati... more Spirited Histories combines ethnography with critical theory to provide a sophisticated exploration of the intersection of haunting and the paranormal with technology, media, and history. Retrieving the past in places of trauma and death can take on many facets. One of these is an attention to hauntings, ghosts, and absences that go with the collective experience of loss and disappearance. People memorialize the dead and their stories in myriad ways. But what about the untold stories, or the forgotten, unnamed? This book explores the ways groups of Chilean paranormal investigators and ghost tour operators produce alternate histories using paranormal machinery, rather than simply theatricalizing pain. It offers a look at technologies, machines, and apparatuses-themselves imbued with a long history of supernatural and scientific expectations-and a social analysis of how certain groups of people marshal the voices of the dead to generate particular micro-histories. This fascinating volume will be of interest to a range of disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, history, religious studies, and scholars of technology and new media.
21 July 2018, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil
This meeting brings ... more 21 July 2018, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil
This meeting brings together people working in the field of health and spirituality to discuss experiences, projects, and expectations, particularly related to their ethnographic encounters. The debate will address, among others, questions such as the following: (a) native and analytical categories of 'belief' and 'experience', 'illness' and 'pathology', 'cosmology' and 'science'; b) the multiplicity of understandings of healing; c) how the participants deal with the diversity and tensions between different understandings of healing; d) relationships in the field: learning and experience, especially how participants are affected by the relationships and experiences during fieldwork.
Este Encontro tem como objetivo reunir pessoas que trabalham no campo da saúde e da espiritualidade para discutir experiências, projetos e expectativas, particularmente relacionadas aos seus encontros etnográficos. O debate abordará, entre outras, questões como as que seguem: a) as categorias nativas e analíticas de ‘crença’ e ‘experiência, ‘doença’ e ‘patologia’, 'cosmologia' e ‘ciência’; b) a multiplicidade de entendimentos da cura; c) como os participantes lidam com a diversidade e as tensões entre entendimentos da cura; d) as relações na pesquisa de campo: aprendizagem e experiência, especialmente como os participantes são afetados pelas relações e experiências durante pesquisa de campo.
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Papers by Diana Espírito Santo
This meeting brings together people working in the field of health and spirituality to discuss experiences, projects, and expectations, particularly related to their ethnographic encounters. The debate will address, among others, questions such as the following: (a) native and analytical categories of 'belief' and 'experience', 'illness' and 'pathology', 'cosmology' and 'science'; b) the multiplicity of understandings of healing; c) how the participants deal with the diversity and tensions between different understandings of healing; d) relationships in the field: learning and experience, especially how participants are affected by the relationships and experiences during fieldwork.
Este Encontro tem como objetivo reunir pessoas que trabalham no campo da saúde e da espiritualidade para discutir experiências, projetos e expectativas, particularmente relacionadas aos seus encontros etnográficos. O debate abordará, entre outras, questões como as que seguem: a) as categorias nativas e analíticas de ‘crença’ e ‘experiência, ‘doença’ e ‘patologia’, 'cosmologia' e ‘ciência’; b) a multiplicidade de entendimentos da cura; c) como os participantes lidam com a diversidade e as tensões entre entendimentos da cura; d) as relações na pesquisa de campo: aprendizagem e experiência, especialmente como os participantes são afetados pelas relações e experiências durante pesquisa de campo.