A "RADIAÇÃO" DE ALMAS, ESPÍRITOS E CABOCLOS EM ANDARAÍ, BAHIA.

This article deals with "radiação" or radiation as a process that creates bond and distance between people and spiritual entities -- souls, spirits, and "caboclos" -- and between these entities themselves. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in Andaraí, a city in the Chapada Diamantina region, located in the northeast of Brazil, it presents a range of variations around the radiation in two contexts: in the "jarê", an African-based religion, and in the mourning ritual called "terno das almas". The radiation is often defined as a stage prior to possession, being an experience underlined by ambivalence and uncertainty of the entities' presence in people's bodies and practices. In this paper, I will argue that the radiation experience can also be thought of as a way of being in a relationship with these entities, demanding attention, knowledge, and zeal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]