Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
The aim of this paper is to introduce the hypothesis that mutations and adaptive behaviors peculiar to teyyam, a trance-possession danced ritual that originated in Kerala (South India), might call into question or falsify our ideas about local and global praxis. This process involves also a martial art, kaḷarippayattu, the Internet, cognitive and neuroscience research on emotion and empathy, and further developments in the so-called “new technologies”. A secondary hypothesis is also advanced, according to which this mutation may also propagate itself by means of contagion, thereby spreading to other performances in the relevant geographical area.
Giorgio De Martino (2016) studied this question.