Permeable Bodies: Posession in Dersim

Abstract

Abstract: The local etiology of mental disorders in the Alevi healing tradition of Dersim point to intruders frommystical realms, “mılaket”, who posess human selves with a weakened sense of personal will. Liminal temporalitiesand spaces are categorized as providing the setting for symbiotic encounters between the human selves and nonselves.In this work, a short introduction into the local belief on posession will be provided. The actual operationof agency in the experience of posession is exemplified on the narrative account of a local healthcare officer, whostands between modern medicine and the local healing tradition. The co-existence of biomedicine and Alevihealing tradition in Dersim is less burdened by the necessity of “trans-cultural translation”, as many of the practicingbiomedical professionals and administrative workers in healthcare are rooted in the Dersim Alevi culture. The reasonfor the possibility of co-existence can be that, the marcation lines between biomedicine and Alevi healing traditionis drawn by Dersim Alevi healthcare professionals themselves.