Some Further Thoughts on Knowledge,Practice and Morality

Abstract

This contribution to a debate on Knowledge and Practice in Mayotte discusses the valuable theoretical perspective offered by Michael Lambek as he focuses on spirit possession as an embodied experience that lasts well beyond its manifest moments. By grounding the immediacy of possession in the embodied texture of the everyday, Lambek renders tangible what is often taken as an intangible dimension of the religious experience. His insights into the various forms and circumstances through which knowledge is understood, circulated and applied in spirit possession enable him to talk about this 'tradition' as an alternative form of knowing that always operates in the context of Islam and whose practical significance is only demonstrated in the concreteness of social action.