Haunted Objects: English Paranormal Investigation and the Material Mediation of Doubt
In contemporary England, paranormal investigation has emerged as a popular means of seeking knowledge about reportedly ghostly phenomena. Paranormal investigators are self-fashioned experts who aim to balance scientistic and spiritual perspectives in the hope of proving or disproving the existence o...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
[2019]
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| In: |
Nova religio
Year: 2019, Volume: 22, Issue: 4, Pages: 60-74 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Great Britain
/ Spook
/ Implements, utensils, etc.
/ Medium
/ Materiality
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| IxTheo Classification: | AG Religious life; material religion AZ New religious movements KBF British Isles |
| Further subjects: | B
Ghosts
B Material Culture B Knowledge Production B Doubt |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | In contemporary England, paranormal investigation has emerged as a popular means of seeking knowledge about reportedly ghostly phenomena. Paranormal investigators are self-fashioned experts who aim to balance scientistic and spiritual perspectives in the hope of proving or disproving the existence of ghosts from an objective perspective. Despite their collective goal to understand the paranormal, many investigators experience profound doubt of its reality and nature. Drawing on long-term ethnographic fieldwork with English paranormal investigators, this essay examines how investigators' engagement with material culture mediates their experience of doubt. Ultimately, this essay argues that material culture, in the form of haunted objects, helps mitigate, produce, and extend investigators' doubts about the nature of the paranormal and the meaning of materiality itself. |
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| ISSN: | 1541-8480 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Nova religio
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1525/nr.2019.22.4.60 |