Suspect Others

Stuart Earle Strange's Suspect Others is a vivid contribution to anthropology, religious studies, diaspora studies, and philosophy. This study of Maroon spirit mediums and Hindu Shakti mediums in Suriname reveals a local consensus that every person, though only vaguely aware of it, is internally driven by multiple spirits and not by individual consciousness alone. Suspect Others is a unique and remarkable study of religion and race in a fascinating ethnographic setting. - J. Lorand Matory, Lawrence Richardson Distinguished Professor of Cultural Anthropology and Director of the Sacred Arts of the Black Atlantic Project, Duke University 'No Friends.' This windshield slogan popular in the anglophone Caribbean echoes the alternate visions of sociality and intimate mistrust that Suspect Others conjures in Suriname. Against the assumption that both healing and culture are methods of becoming whole, Stuart Earle Strange shows how Surinamese spiritual work and national belonging are modalities of making the self other. Suspect Others evokes this effect of intimate suspicion with masterful intensity. Theoretically complex and ethnographically rich, Strange's work will make an impact on social theory and conceptions of selfhood for years to come. - J. Brent Crosson, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, University of Texas at Austin, and author of Experiments with Power: Obeah and the Remaking of Religion in Trinidad Suspect Others explores the ethnically and religiously complex world of Suriname, where seeking the revelations of mediums is common practice. Focusing on Maroon and Hindu communities and the mediums who serve them, Strange considers what mediumship reveals about the uncertainties that pervade Surinamese social life, arguing that clients' suspicions about others produce knowledge of the self. This book is a welcome addition to the literature on Caribbean religions and on Maroon and Indo-Caribbean communities. - Aisha Khan, Associate Professor of Anthropology, New York University, and author of The Deepest Dye: Obeah, Hosay, and Race in the Atlantic World