The Avatar Faculty: Ecstatic Transformations in Religion and Video Games (Ethnographic Studies in Subjectivity #16)
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- Synopsis
- The Avatar Faculty creatively examines the parallels between spiritual and digital activities to explore the roles that symbolic second selves—avatars—can play in our lives. The use of avatars can allow for what anthropologists call ecstasy, from the Greek ekstasis, meaning "standing outside oneself." The archaic techniques of promoting spiritual ecstasy, which remain central to religious healing traditions around the world, now also have contemporary analogues in virtual worlds found on the internet. In this innovative book, Jeffrey G. Snodgrass argues that avatars allow for the ecstatic projection of consciousness into alternate realities, potentially providing both the spiritually possessed and gamers access to superior secondary identities with elevated social standing. Even if only temporary, self-transformations of these kinds can help reduce psychosocial stress and positively improve health and well-being.
- Copyright:
- 2023
Book Details
- Book Quality:
- Publisher Quality
- Book Size:
- 280 Pages
- ISBN-13:
- 9780520384378
- Related ISBNs:
- 9780520384361, 9780520384354
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- Date of Addition:
- 01/10/23
- Copyrighted By:
- Jeffrey G. Snodgrass
- Adult content:
- No
- Language:
- English
- Has Image Descriptions:
- No
- Categories:
- Nonfiction, Computers and Internet, Religion and Spirituality, Science Fiction and Fantasy, Psychology, Social Studies
- Submitted By:
- Bookshare Staff
- Usage Restrictions:
- This is a copyrighted book.
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- by Jeffrey G. Snodgrass
- in Nonfiction
- in Computers and Internet
- in Religion and Spirituality
- in Science Fiction and Fantasy
- in Psychology
- in Social Studies