Extra-mundane Communication

Extra-mundane refers to those instances when communication goes beyond the realm of intra-personal, interpersonal and mass communication to embrace supernatural beings – ancestors, spirits, gods, the supreme God – or when they involve processes, elements or abilities that are superhuman as in witchcraft, reincarnation etc. More so as the supernatural is a natural part of the indigenous experience and worldview with the earth, the seen and unseen world perceived as intimately linked and connected. These features and elements have been collapsed in this chapter into a global outlook, bottom-up, and top-down as well as pointing out the syncretism of it all. The global outlook takes a sweep at indigenous religious practices across the globe, while bottom-up communication involves attempts by human beings to get the attention of supernatural forces for a variety of reasons. Top-down communication is actually the feedback component of the extra-mundane mode of communication in which the supernatural agent communicates his or her pleasure or displeasure, directs, gives guidance etc.