If you spend much time reading academic research on ghost stories or ghost tourism, you will inevitably come across the term “Hauntology” which, despite its name, is more related to politics than ghosts. However, the term is useful in understanding the social meaning and purpose of many ghost stories. In this episode, Matt explains the concept and discusses its applicability to supernatural beliefs and claims.
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This episode featured music by Matthew Armstrong and production assistance from Kaylia Metcalfe.
A transcript can be found HERE.
Sources
Coverley, Merlin. 2020. Hauntology, Ghosts of Futures Past. Oldcastle Books, Ltd., Harpenden, UK.
Derrida, Jacques. 2006 (reprint). Specters of Marx. Routledge. Oxfordshire, UK.
Douthat, Ross. 2024. “Toward a constructive politics of nostalgia.” New York Times, January 26, 2024.
Fisher, Mark. 2014. Ghosts of My Life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology and Lost Futures. Zer0 Books, UK.
MacFarlane, Robert. 2015. “The Eeriness of the English Countryside.” The Guardian, April 10, 2015.
Miles, Tiya. 2015. Tales From the Haunted South: Dark Tourism and Memories of Slavery from the Civil War Era. The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill NC.
Paz, Coya. 2022. “The haunting truth of ghost stories” – Ted Talk posted online Jan 21, 2022. Available online 2/18/23 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P68Vkp-h7c
Pirok, Alena. 2017. Ghosts In The Archives: Communing With The Virginia Historical Inventory. Post on the Library of Virginia’s blog The Uncommonwealth, October 18, 2017. Accessed online on April 7, 2022 at https://uncommonwealth.virginiamemory.com/blog/2017/10/18/ghosts-in-the-archives/
Pirok, Alena. 2019. Goodwin’s Ghosts: Colonial Williamsburg’s Uncanny Legacy. The Public Historian, Vol. 41, No. 3 (August 2019), pp. 9–30.
Pirok, Alena. 2022. The Spirit of Colonial Williamsburg: Ghosts and Interpreting the Recreated Past. University of Massachusetts Press, Boston, MA.
Vaughan, Holly Ann. 2012. A critical ethnography of The Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville,
Louisiana with ruminations on hauntology. PhD Dissertation, Louisiana State University.
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