This interdisciplinary seminar explores the phenomenon of possession across multiple domains: horror cinema, anthropology and religious studies, Afro-Diasporic religious traditions, as well as critical and philosophical theories of subjectivity. Through careful analysis of possession narratives in both popular media, critical theory, and religious practice, we examine how different cultural frameworks conceptualize the relationship between self and other, autonomy and surrender, control and liberation. This course is organized around possession through two, intersecting perspectives: first, through control, which looks at how power is exercised over another and, second, through liberation, which considers how freedom and autonomy function in the face of outside influence. Over the course of the semester, we will analyze representations of possession in horror cinema, from early films like The Exorcist (1973) to contemporary works like Get Out (2017), examining how these narratives reflect and shape cultural anxieties about agency, colonialism, and the boundaries of the self. Second, we engage with anthropological and religious studies scholarship on possession practices in Vodou and other Afro-Diasporic traditions, considering how these practices offer alternative models of subjectivity and embodiment. Finally, we explore theoretical frameworks from philosophy, psychoanalysis, and critical theory that help us understand possession as a phenomenon that troubles Western notions of autonomous selfhood. Key questions include: How do different cultural traditions understand the relationship between consciousness, body, and spirit? What can possession tell us about agency, consent, and control? How do race, gender, and colonialism shape representations and experiences of possession? What might possession practices teach us about liberation and resistance?