Medical Anthropology ForumHammering the Devil with Prayer: Patriarchy and Paternalism in Roman Catholic Exorcism

Professor Csordas is conducting an ethnographic study of the 21st century resurgence of exorcism in the Roman Catholic Church. The work is a cross-cultural comparison of this ritual practice in Italy and the United States, and includes priests who conduct exorcism rites, the demonically afflicted, lay assistants to the exorcists, and mental health professionals who consult with the exorcists. Analysis to date in this ongoing project suggests that exorcism be understood not only as a thriving form of religious practice but also as a dynamic social phenomenon, demanding explicit attention to the relation between the concrete experiences of social actors and the broader cultural processes and social forces in which they are embedded. Specifically, exorcism can be understood both experientially in terms of the therapeutic process put into play by the practice of ritual performance as an attempt to promote flourishing, and institutionally in terms of the conservative discourse of evil at large in the world that articulates a religio-political stance in the face of global cultural processes in social context.