This article considers how to study the meanings of control in religious life and multispecies relations. In it, I examine how contemporary Singaporean deity mediums, who describe themselves as subject to an absolute form of control while possessed, interpret what this control should be like. By treating mediums’ self-described subordination as analogous to that of domestic animals’ relations to humans, I explore common problems with control shared between religious and multispecies studies. In doing so, I examine core issues that point to how control can be more effectively conceptualized and analyzed by paying attention to the ways religious practices shape the interpretation of purpose. The article contends that any effective theory of control must explore how what it means to be controlled is embedded in the ways that different religious traditions perceive the purposes of the relations that make the subjects of control interpretable to themselves and others.

中文翻译：

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当代新加坡媒体中的动物神灵、驯化和控制目的

本文考虑如何研究控制在宗教生活和多物种关系中的意义。在其中，我研究了当代新加坡的神灵媒介，他们将自己描述为在被附身时受到绝对形式的控制，如何解释这种控制应该是什么样的。通过将媒介的自我描述的从属关系视为类似于家畜与人类的关系，我探索了宗教和多物种研究之间共享控制的常见问题。在这样做的过程中，我研究了一些核心问题，这些核心问题指出了如何通过关注宗教实践塑造目的解释的方式来更有效地概念化和分析控制。