Paper short abstract:

This paper focuses on the analysis of contemporary devotion to the entity Sousa Martins in Portugal. Through the analysis of incorporation sessions, we will examine the entity's "presentification," the interactions between humans and other-than-humans, and the role of the ethnographer.

Paper long abstract:

This paper specifically delves into the analysis of devotion and interactions between the entity Doctor Sousa Martins (1843-1897) and his devotees. The origin of this devotion, which is trans-religious and exists outside any institution, dates back to 1904 in Portugal. Among the devotional relationship dynamics with the entity, we will emphasize the establishment of an intimate devotional relationship between the entity and its devotees. This intimate relationship facilitates the 'presentification' of the divine (Luhrmann, 2022); we will analyze it with a focus on incorporation sessions. In this ethnographic field, it became necessary to conduct an ethnography of, on, and through intimacy.

We will examine the interaction between the medium and Sousa Martins, the interaction between the embodied entity and the patient, and finally, the ethnographer's position. I participated in these incorporation sessions as an "assistant" to Sousa Martins and his medium, a role granted to me by the research participants. I assumed this position after establishing an intimate relationship with the research participants, and this made it possible to unveil the secrecy regime that protects the incorporation practices.

This case of incorporating the supernatural entity in domestic spaces enables us to reflect on 1- the layering of the Self when the medium incorporates and on the “presentification” of the entity; 2- the relation with the entity and the sensory experience of his "presence" and ; 3- the position of the ethnographer when integrated into the rituals and immersed in exchanges among humans and other-than-humans actors of the research.