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Paper short abstract:

The Miskitu people of Eastern Nicaragua are occasionally troubled by a spectacular illness called grisi siknis or “crazy sickness,” said to be caused by spirits. This paper inquires into how Miskitu healers ritually transform the experience of the afflicted through an idiom of the spirit world.

Paper long abstract:

The Miskitu people of Eastern Nicaragua are occasionally troubled by a spectacular illness called grisi siknis or "crazy sickness," said to be caused by spirits. The problem, which occasionally takes epidemic proportions, is characterised by a violent, hysterical reaction as the afflicted loose consciousness, begin to run around together, and may hurt both themselves and others. Western medical personnel have never found any organic cause of the problem and have had difficulties finding a cure. Treatment is instead performed by Miskitu healers who isolate the patients and ritually transform the experience of the afflicted through an idiom of the spirit world. Afflicting spirits are ritually turned into supporting ones, and the afflicted develop a new attitude and a new way of understanding themselves and their problem. Illness and suffering is reinterpreted as signs of possession and sorcery and given concrete form which also makes possible resolving the problem. It is suggested that the Miskitu spirits may represent both positive and negative social relationships, and both well-being and illness. Spirit possession help the Miskitu to interpret the world as the spirits may be a sign of, or express, social, psychological, and physiological conditions. Similarly, the spirits represent a model for healing and wellbeing as they can change a person's condition from illness to health.