Jaguars of the Dawn: Spirit Mediumship in the Brazilian Vale do Amanhecer

By Emily Pierini

The Brazilian Spiritualist Christian Order Vale do Amanhecer (Valley of the Dawn) is the place where the worlds of the living and the spirits merge and the boundaries between lives are regularly crossed. Drawing upon over a decade of extensive fieldwork in temples of the Amanhecer in Brazil and Europe, the author explores how mediums understand their experiences and how they learn to establish relationships with their spirit guides. She sheds light on the ways in which mediumistic development in the Vale do Amanhecer is used for therapeutic purposes and informs notions of body and self, of illness and wellbeing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Berghahn Books
• Release date: Jan 10, 2020
• ISBN: 9781789205664

Emily Pierini

Emily Pierini is Assistant Professor in Anthropology and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. She is the author of several journal articles and chapters, and the book Jaguars of the Dawn: Spirit Mediumship in the Brazilian Vale do Amanhecer (Berghahn, 2020).