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AbstractDrawing on ethnography from central Greece, this article is about the way people narrate their encounters with the devil. Although it echoes the idea that life as told and life as lived are structured in the same way, it takes the argument a step further by suggesting they are structured through a narrative plot wherein the present and the future of the story‐tellers pre‐date the past of which their stories tell. It also foregrounds the link between this structure and a particular kind of morality which replicates the narrative logic of the stories, giving rise to an inherently relational personhood – a personhood that, just like the way in which its narration destabilizes the logic of before and after, destabilizes the distinction between self and other. Lastly, contextualizing the current economic crisis in the lives of such persons, the article suggests we need to think of it in relation to the devil and the stories people tell of him.

Focusing on a specific healing ritual, this article explores the efficacy of spirit possession in Tana Toraja. Framed in terms of indigenous exegesis, this exploration centres on the link between spirit possession and death, which manifests an intrinsic connection between spirit possession and sacrifice. In articulating this connection, the article foregrounds the body of the healer and attempts to explicate its 'monstrous' potency.

Based on fieldwork among the Sa'dan Toraja of Indonesia, this article examines a specific relationship between the living and the dead. It is a relationship which is usually described in terms of intimacy. Within this intimacy, the living and the dead are described as sharing the same desires. Furthermore, as far as the living are concerned, these desires have to be expressed in words and acted out in the form of mortuary sacrifices. In this way, the living are said to remember the dead. My discussion focuses on the implications of this memory.

Dimitri Tsintjilonis
Utilisant des informations ethnographiques de la région de Buntao', cet article examine la pratique traditionnelle de la chasse aux têtes chez les Toraja Sa'dan (Sulawesi), une pratique qui a conservé une grande signification, bien qu'elle soit abandonnée depuis longtemps. La perception indigène de la relation entre vie et mort est basée sur la conscience que la création dérive de la dissolution. Parce qu'elle contribue à la prospérité en «convertissant» la mort en vie, la chasse aux têtes fait partie intégrante de cette création. Il n'y a rien cependant dans une tête qui rende d'elle-même la chasse aux têtes efficace, «c'est faire quelque chose à une tête ou avec une tête qui permet d'apporter la prospérité». La tête est d'abord et avant tout un objet rituel. Aussi, pour tenter de comprendre son sens et expliquer les bases de son artifice, cet article explore la façon dont elle est utilisée dans les rites et chargée de sens. Il suggère, en d'autres termes, que c'est seulement dans le contexte rituel que la chasse aux têtes peut être vue comme «significative, intelligible et justifiée».