Uncanny experiences as therapeutic events




Kia Andell, Harley Bergroth, Marja-Liisa Honkasalo

Suvi Salmenniemi, Johanna Nurmi, Inna Perheentupa, Harley Bergroth

1st Edition

Lontoo

2019

Assembling Therapeutics: Cultures, Politics and Materiality

188

205

18

978-0-815-37797-9

978-1-351-23339-2

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781351233392/chapters/10.4324/9781351233392-12

https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/42095716



Encounters with the ‘uncanny’ – or ‘supernatural’ as it is often labelled in Euro-American societies – are commonly conceived of as a ‘premodern’ (Latour, 1993) mode of experience and characteristic of cultural ‘otherness’ (Kapferer, 2002). However, social scientific research has shown that such experiences are also commonly reported in post-industrial, contemporary social settings (see Dein, 2012). It seems that disenchantment, as Weber (1922/1967: 139) put it, has only had a limited effect, as people’s engagements with the supernatural, the magical, and the otherworldly have not vanished in technoscientific societies with highly specialised education systems (see Josephson-Storm, 2017). By uncanny experiences we refer to ‘extraordinary’ sensory and embodied experiences that are often unexpected, uncontrollable and quite powerful. 1 Such experiences range from premonitions and visions to encounters with spiritual or otherworldly beings, and from telepathic communication to contacts with the deceased.


Last updated on 2024-26-11 at 22:17