Spirits and Scientists: Ideology, Spiritism, and Brazilian Culture, David J. Hess's 1991 study from Pennsylvania State University Press, is a scholarly anthropological study of Kardecist Spiritism's place within Brazilian culture and its relationship to scientific ideology. Hess is an established anthropologist of science and religion, and the book's authority rests on his own ethnographic fieldwork in Brazil. Its limit is that it is a study of one period's Brazilian Spiritism specifically, and more than three decades have passed since its fieldwork and publication. Cite it for the documented historical relationship between Spiritism and scientific ideology in Brazil at that time; a claim about contemporary practice needs a more recent source.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier1
David J. Hess's Spirits and Scientists: Ideology, Spiritism, and Brazilian Culture, published by Pennsylvania State University Press in 1991, the top tier reflecting a scholarly anthropological study by an established anthropologist of science and religion, resting on his own ethnographic fieldwork in Brazil. Its limit is that it studies one period's Brazilian Spiritism specifically, and more than three decades have passed; a claim about contemporary practice needs a more recent source. NotesScholarly study of Spiritism, ideology and Brazilian culture, 1991.
Citation
AuthorDavid J. Hess
PublisherPennsylvania State University Press
1991 first edition. Publication Year1991
Source Typeacademic monograph
Claims Backed By This Source (11 claims)
This source backs 11 claims across the atlas. As facts: 9 well-attested. Plus 2 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Sources, 7 claims: 7 well-attested.
- Historical Figures, 2 claims: 1 well-attested, 1 general references.
- Religions, 2 claims: 1 well-attested, 1 general references.
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