Focused on the growing numbers of gay and trans female ritual specialists found in the proliferating spirit possession cults of mainland Southeast Asia, Deities and Divas illuminatingly brings the scholarship of queer studies and spirit possession studies into an otherwise previously neglected dialogue. Through analytic overviews and empirical case studies, Peter Jackson and Benjamin Baumann's edited volume explores how the personal lives of queer spirit mediums are remade in the ambiguous, contentious interactions among queer social life, Buddhism, and spirit possession, as well as how cultures of spirit mediumship are changing in response to the increasingly public prominence of queer mediums. A broad-ranging and revisionist introduction by the editors sets the stage for the book's two topical subdivisions, the first on deities and the queering of ritual specialists and the second on divas and the queering of ritual performance and aesthetics. In addition, Jackson contributes critical introductions to both parts...

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