The abject frontier: fortune-tellers, médiuns, spiritualists and other providers of spiritual services
The abject frontier: fortune-tellers, médiuns, spiritualists and other providers of spiritual services
In this anthropological work, I explore the practice of spiritual service providers who use flyers on poles to promote their activities. I introduce the concept of the "abject frontier", highlighting how these practitioners, such as fortune tellers and psychics, persist as elements eliminated by spiritism in its search for religious identity. I also present ethnographic notes on contemporary advertisements for fortune tellers in Salvador, exploring social and political dynamics and anthropological aspects linked to the notion of the person in these contexts and their relationship with the spirit world.