In the Company of Ghosts Hauntology, Ethics, Digital Monsters Line Henriksen Linköping Studies in Arts and Science No. 668 Linköping University, Department of Thematic Studies – Gender Studies Linköping 2016 Linköping Studies in Arts and Science No. 668 At the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Linköping University, research and doctoral studies are carried out within broad problem areas. Research is organized in interdisciplinary research environments and doctoral studies mainly in graduate schools. Jointly, they publish the series Linköping Studies in arts and Science. This thesis comes from Tema Genus at the Department of Thematic Studies – Gender Studies. Distributed by: TEMA – the Department of Thematic Studies Linköping University 581 83 Linköping Line Henriksen In the Company of Ghosts Hauntology, Ethics, Digital Monsters Edition 1:1 ISBN 978-91-7685-842-4 ISSN 0282-9800 © Line Henriksen TEMA – the Department of Thematic Studies, 2016 Cover art and design: Line Henriksen Printed by: LiU-Tryck, Linköping, 2016 Til mine forældre, Hanne og Claus Henriksen. Til min søster, Louise. Og til Konrad. (1000Vultures 2011) Nervously, I called out. “Hello?” There was a brief moment of breathless tension as we lay static in the water. This silence was suddenly broken by laughter. “Hello?” Josh cackled. “So what?” “Hello, Mr. Monster-in-the-woods. I know you’re sneaking around but maybe you’ll answer to my ‘hello’? Hellooooooo!” I realized how stupid it was. Whatever animal it was, it wouldn’t respond. I hadn’t even realized I’d said it until afterwards, but if anything was actually there I obviously wouldn’t get a reply. Josh continued, “Helloooooo,” in a high falsetto. “Helloooo,” I countered with as deep a baritone as I could manage “’Ello there, mate!” “Hel-lo. Beep boop.” “HhheeeEEELLLLOOOoooo.” We continued mocking each other, and were in the process of turning the raft around to head back when we heard: “Hello” CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 5 FOREWORD: Hello! Is there anybody there? 9 INTRODUCTION: From the Belly of the Monster 12 1. What this text is 13 2. A spectre is haunting Europe 15 3. In the company of ghosts 19 4. “Spread the word.” The absent presences of digital technology 22 5. Hidden depths 24 6. Ghostly and ghastly circulations. A critique of hauntology 26 7. (Re)turn and revolution. Spectralities 27 8. Monster Studies 30 9. Worthwhile subjects of study. On ghosts and monsters 32 10. The University of What It Is. Ontology and haunting 35 11. Hauntology as ethics. On justice and responsibility 37 onwards 39 CHAPTER ONE: Tempting the Ghosts Out 41 1. “and anyone who read the article, anyone who took interest, would be affected” 42 1 2. Writing as a method of enquiry 43 3. Objectivity as situated knowledges and partial perspectives 49 4. When nothing happens 52 5. A dance on absent feet 54 6. From this sea of ghosts. Coordinates and monster-making 57 onwards 61 CHAPTER TWO: The Curse 63 1. “And you? Do you believe in ghosts?” 64 2. “Whom would I burden in turn?” A curse and a promise 67 3. Virtue, virtuality and virtue ethics 70 4. Decorum, propriety, wholeness. Responding to a curse 74 5. Response as interruption 77 6. Glimpses of monsters. An improper ontology of the virtual 79 7. The world as an open, spooky system 82 8. A risky ethics of hospitality towards the monstrous arrivant 84 9. to: jml@****.com from: elzahir82@****.com 88 10. Behind the coin 92 11. An unstable smile 93 12. Another Zahir for another traveller 97 onwards 99 CHAPTER THREE: The Void 102 1. “Fear the night sky.” Abyss, anxiety, aporia 103 2. An open door. An empty glass. A spreading stain 107 3. A relation with nothing. Anxiety as lack that lacks 111 4. On the etheric ocean and digital technology 114 2 5. Voids, flows and the problem of personality 117 6. “There be dragons on the internet, in the Deep Web …” 119 7. hello 122 8. FRE EZING G. Icebergs and arctic oceans 126 9. no chance of passing. Freezing flows and the halting of movement 128 10. Deep and grave. On j/ustice 132 onwards 134 CHAPTER FOUR: The Smile 136 1. Do you believe in a Smiling God? 137 2. “Watch me smile!” The visor effect and hidden smiles 139 3. Gravy and the grave. On following ghosts 143 4. The smile as a curse and a course 147 5. Purring and growling. Call it what you like 150 6. “You are full of mushrooms!” No outside, no inside 154 7. Like meat from the bone. Anxiety and the corps morcelé 157 8. Incorporation. Failure and refusal to mourn 160 9. The skull in our mouths 164 onwards 168 CHAPTER FIVE: A Trick 169 1. Not a happy ending 170 2. “We affirm once again that nothing is real …” 173 3. Bubalus-bubalis, a-choo! The hoax as a conjuration 175 4. “It’s the ghosts, who will answer you” 178 onwards 180 3 HERE BE MONSTERS: About the Stories 183 Mushroom Land TV/Smile Guide 184 My dead girlfriend keeps messaging me on Facebook 185 Smile 186 The Curious Case of Smile.jpg 187 Welcome to Night Vale 188 The Deep Web 188 BIBLIOGRAPHY 191 LIST OF FIGURES 203 CORRECTIONS 206 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There be monsters out there and not least in the depths of the blank page. If it wasn’t for the generous support of a lot of wonderful people while I was writing this thesis, those monsters would no doubt have gotten to me by now. First of all, I would like to thank my supervisors, Margrit Shildrick and Nina Lykke. Thank you, Margrit, for your support, encouragement and guidance through this strange, strange thing that writing a thesis can be. Thank you for Derrida and for the pictures of cats and for getting me through the hard times (those last two things are not completely unrelated). Thank you. Thank you, Nina, for your ideas and your support. Thank you for helping me with the writing and for knowing the importance of Smile.dog. I don’t think this monster of a thesis could’ve been brought to life any other place than at the wonderfully weird laboratory for critical and experimental research that is Tema Genus, Linköping University. Thank you, all you brilliant people of Tema Genus!: Alma Persson, Alp Bircik, Anna Lundberg, Anna Wahl, Anne-Charlott Callerstig, Anne-Li Lindgren, Berit Starkman, Björn Pernrud, Cecilia Åsberg, Dag Balkmar, Desireé Ljungcrantz, Edyta Just, Elisabeth Samuelsson, Emma Strollo, Frida Beckman, Helga Sadowski, Jami Weinstein, Jeff Hearn, Justin Makii, Katherine Harisson, Klara Goedecke, Linn Sandberg, Madina Tlostanova, Magdalena Górska, Malena Gustavson, Margrit Shildrick, Marie-Louise Holm, Marianna Szczygielska, Marietta Radomska, Mexitli N. López Ríos, Monika Obreja, Nina Lykke, Olga Cielemęcka, Pat Treusch, Pia Laskar, Redi Koobak, Roger Klinth, Silje Lundgren, Stina Backman, Tanja Joelsson, Tanya Bureychak, Tara Mehrabi, 5 Ulrica Engdahl, Victoria Kawesa, Wera Grahn, Wibke Straube and Åsa-Karin Engstrand. Thank you, Barbro Axelsson, Camilla Jungström Hammar, Carin Ennergård, Eva Danielsson, Ian Dickson and Micke Brandt for administrative and technical support. Extra thanks to Berit, Björn and Silje for your help with administration and funding applications, and thank you, Silje, for your kindness and support in the last months of thesis-writing. Thank you, Desireé, for proofreading the Swedish abstract for this thesis, and thank you, Edyta, for double-checking and correcting the English translations of Mushroom Land TV titles. I began this PhD-journey together with a group of terrifyingly amazing people: thank you, Desireé Ljungcrantz, Helga Sadowski, Lisa Lindén, Marie-Louise Holm, Marietta Radomska and Tara Mehrabi for your friendship and for all the adventures! During my PhD studies, I have presented my work at two seminars: the 60% and the 90% seminar. I’m grateful to Donna McCormack for being the opponent at the 60% seminar and in the committee at the 90%: you’ve given me so much insightful advice and many brilliant suggestions, Donna. Thank you! Thank you, Jodey Castricano, for your feedback as the opponent at the 90% seminar; your ideas and suggestions helped me get this thesis ready for the defence. Thank you, Helga Sadowski and Marietta Radomska, for being in the committee at the 60% seminar, and thank you, Edyta Just and Alexa Wright, for being in the committee at the 90% seminar; your suggestions and generous feedback have been incredibly helpful. I’m very grateful to Robert McRuer and Jeffrey Jerome Cohen for making it possible for me to visit MEMSI, George Washington University, twice. Thank you, Jeffrey, for letting me participate in the Environ Body Object Veer course and not least for taking the time to talk to me about my project. Your ideas and encouragement have meant a lot to me while writing this thesis, and I’m forever grateful that you persuaded me to watch Doctor Who. Thank you, Myra Hird, for discussing the internet with me. 6 Thank you, Mia Mäkilä, for helping me play a trick and for permission to include your artwork ‘In the Bush’ in this thesis. Thank you to the monsters of the Monster Network! The work (and play) we’ve done as a network has been incredibly inspirational and has had an immense impact on my writing. So thank you, Donna McCormack, Ingvil Hellstrand, Sara Orning and Aino-Kaisa Koistinen for making this happen! I also want to thank the writing-camp crew: Magda, Nancy, Marie-Louise, Morten, Desireé, Verena and not least Bobby (and Marjory). Those writing camps are the stuff of legend. Thank you, Camilla Gerhardt, for gammelt venskab! Finally, a heartfelt thank you to my parents, Hanne and Claus Henriksen, and my sister, Louise Henriksen, for the love and for putting up with me and all my monsters.