CONTENTS -- The Power of Parasites and Worms Misha Tadd ix -- Serpents and Sanitation: A Biocultural Survey of Snake Worship, Cultural Adaptation, and Parasitic Disease in Ancient and Modern India Lesley Jo Weaver and Amber R. Campbell Hibbs 1 -- Worms and the Corporal Body in India: An Examination of Hindu Literary Traditions Levanya Vemsani 17 -- The Wasp and the Worm: Getting Inside the Body of the Sage Mark G. Pitner 41 -- A Snake in a Basin and a Worm in the Flesh: External Serpents, Internal Worms, and Authority over the Body in the Legenda Aurea of Jacob de Voragine Brenda S. Gardenour 65 -- Reading the Wormy Corpus: Ambiguity and Discernment in the Lives of Medieval Saints Alison More 81 -- Some Considerations Regarding the Origin and Functions of Parasites among Two Mbya Communities in Misiones, Argentina Marta Crivos, et al. 95 -- Parasites and the Postcolonial: Williams Sassine's Saint Monsieur Baly Charlotte Baker 123 -- Worms Politic: Parasitism, Textual Decay and Conjure Truth in Gloria Naylor's Mama Day Amy M. Thomas 135 -- Invasion as Affliction: Worms and Bodily Infestation in African American Hoodoo Practices Yvonne Chireau 155 -- We Are What We Don't Eat: Worms, Bacteria, and the Soil Around Us Todd LeVasseur 171 -- Inside/Out: The Body Under Attack in American Popular Culture Julien R. Fielding 189 -- List of Contributors 215.