What does it mean to be possessed? We can be consumed by love or desire. We can become obsessed with something or someone. Still that does not really constitute possession. In order to become possessed, something foreign, something unknown needs to take over our soul and through that change our appearance and/or our behaviour.
We approach the implications of possession in relation to disease. Scientific based healthcare often employs military metaphors to describe their understanding of disease. The body is invaded or attacked by a virus or bacteria. The body, in other words, becomes possessed by an external force, an enemy.
In order to understand what the implications of this view on disease has for our lives, this project uses the aesthetic of horror films to delve deeper into issues of illness and health. In horror films, we see victims being possessed by evil forces in similar ways as we see disease. We see how well functioning individuals are quickly turned into murdering maniacs as their consciousness is invaded by something evil. The group also learns from Sami influences in three Nordic countries. How do animist cultures understand disease and health?