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Speaking of Spirits: Representations and Experiences of the Spirit World in British Spirit Mediumship

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Speaking of Spirits: Representations and Experiences of the Spirit World in British Spirit Mediumship Speaking of Spirits: Representations and Experiences of the Spirit World in British Spirit Mediumship Hannah Gilbert, BA (Hons) PhD University of York Sociology March 2008 Contents Abstract 6 Declaration 7 Acknowledgements 8 Chapter One: Social science, parapsychology and Western spirit mediumship 1.1 Introduction 11 1.2 Contemporary mediumship 18 1.3 Social science and the paranormal 35 1.4 Sceptical, spiritual and agnostic studies of mediumship 52 1.5 Conclusion 65 Chapter Two: The spirit medium in culture and Western history 2.1 Introduction 69 2.2 Anthropological approaches to mediumship 70 2.3 The development of Western mediumship 79 2.4 Spiritualism and society 89 2.5 Conclusion 105 2 Chapter Three: Using combined approaches to study spirit mediums 3.1 Introduction 107 3.2 The need to study mediumship as social and experiential 108 3.3 Research questions 111 3.4 Data 113 3.5 Epistemological considerations 136 3.6 Ethical concerns 141 3.7 Reflexivity in researching mediums 144 3.8 Conclusion 151 Chapter Four Issues in the presentations of mediums hip: A preliminary analysis 4.1 Introduction 153 4.2 Stephen Holbrook 156 4.3 Analysis 166 4.4 Conclusion 191 Chapter Five Presentations of mediumship in large scale public demonstration and Spiritualist church services 5.1 Introduction 194 5.2 Analysis 202 3 5.3 Stephen Holbrook and Simon Peters: Public demonstrations of mediums hip compared 211 5.4 Divine Church services 219 5.5 Analysis 224 5.6 Religious and secular spaces: Comparative analysis between public demonstrations and Divine services 230 5.7 Conclusion 236 Chapter Six Mediums' accounts of identity and experience 6.1 Introduction 239 6.2 Identity 241 6.3 Experience 270 6.4 Conclusion 284 Chapter Seven Identity, development and spirit experience in mediums' autobiographies 7.1 Introduction 286 7.2 Medium autobiography 290 7.3 Identity 292 7.4 How mediumship works 311 7.5 Anecdotes 318 7.6 The spirit world in spirit words 322 4 7.7 Conclusion 331 Chapter Eight: Conclusion 8.1 Introduction 332 8.2 Summary of findings 333 8.3 Methodological reflection 336 8.4 Research contribution 342 8.5 Conclusion 344 Appendixes One 346 Two 348 Three 351 References 352 5 Abstract This thesis has examined some of the features connected to contemporary practises of spirit mediumship, by focusing on how mediums construct and manage their identities, how they interact with outsiders, and how they orientate to and manage the identities of their spirit contacts. It has used observational studies of mediumship in action, in religious and secular contexts, to examine how mediums manage their own identities, interaction with an audience, and the agencies of non corporeal spirit beings. It has also used semi-structured interviews and autobiographies to explore how mediums account for their spiritual experiences, and how they become active practitioners of spirit communication. Using a combined methodological approach that has drawn on Discourse Analysis and grounded theory, this thesis will firstly illustrate the need for sociological research into mediumship before explaining why such a methodological approach has been selected. Analysis will be based on an examination of identities as actively managed and negotiated in talk and text, by examining data from ten observational studies, seventeen interviews, and five autobiographies. The conclusion will reflect on the advantages and disadvantages of such an approach, before suggesting future areas of research, and how this project may be of use to other studies of extraordinary experiences, and society more generally. 6 Declaration I hereby acknowledge that material covered in Chapter Four has also formed part of the paper "Discourse and the preconditions of mediumship in stage demonstrations" by Robin Wooffitt and Hannah Gilbert, which appeared in Mortality (2008), Volume 13, Issue 3. 7 Acknowledgements First, and foremost, I would like to offer my sincere gratitude to all of the mediums who have taken part in this study, and to several other individuals who have aided this process by passing my name on, or by helping to arrange interviews. I was greatly humbled by the generosity and support I received for this project, and without such cooperation and insight none of this would have been possible. My family have been an amazing source of support, and have been there at all stages of this process with love and encouragement. I am immensely grateful to them for everything they have done, and continue to do. I have been extremely fortunate in having some truly inspirational and supportive friends. Cara Flowers was there when my interest in mediumship was first ignited. Going to a Spiritualist church service as part of a participant observation project during our undergraduate years in Durham was her idea, and working with her helped to get me thinking about these demonstrations sociologically. She was an invaluable friend during our time as anthropology undergraduates, and continues to be so. Jody Mellor helped ease my transition from anthropology to sociology with her immense knowledge of the subject which she was happy to share and discuss, and was a great housemate for the first three years of our PhDs. Likewise, Lynne Armitage, Gracie Barrett, and Liz Littlewood provided much end of the day respite and comradelier during our time in Badger Hill. Joss Wright accompanied me to a seance that unfortunately never happened, and kept me well updated with relevant 8 horror and sf fiction, not to mention the chess tutorials. Suz Azer, Rhiannon Bearne, Amy Broad, Jenny Bowskill, Heather Faulkner, Aisling Wall and Susan Whittaker have all provided welcome weekend breaks, let me talk about work, and excused my unreliability, particularly when deadlines were looming. A number of friends made during my time in York have provided an incredible amount of support. Grant Arney, David Beer, Kelly Benneworth, Cecily Boys, Madeleine Castro, Nicola Holt, Clare Jackson, Danae McLeod, Meghan Reid and Lynda Senior have indulged long conversation and provided many moments of inspiration. More recently, Isaac Hughes, Sarah Metcalfe and Tamlyn Ryan have been added to our research group, and their enthusiasm, insights and friendship has been a huge bonus. All of these people have made the living around this project easier and more rewarding. Anne Akeroyd and Amanda Rees both provided invaluable advice on earlier versions of some of the chapters in this thesis, of which I am very grateful. I would like to thank Amanda Rees and Andy McGinley for their illuminating viva feedback, and for making the examination a rewarding and not to terrifying expenence. I have gratefully received a number of fascinating papers, altruistically passed on over the years when my library accounts would only stretch so far. I would like to thank everyone who has helped furthered my knowledge, and in particular, Charles 9 Emmons, James McClenon, Anthony McCann and Matthew Wood who kindly engaged me in fascinating correspondence, and offered support for this project. I would also like to thank all of the people I have met at conferences, in particular Elizabeth Roxburgh and Kendall Wrightson, who provided me with invaluable feedback and helped fuel my ideas. Robin Wooffitt has been my long suffering supervisor, and has tirelessly and patiently provided feedback. He probably knows this thesis almost as well as I do by now! I would like to thank him for his guidance over the years, and to acknowledge the importance of his own work into mediumship which has been influential, and will, I'm sure, continue to be so. Lastly, I would like to dedicate this to the memory of my late grandmother, Annie Pigott, who has ended up rather more involved in this project than could have been foreseen. 10 Chapter One Social science, parapsychology and Western spirit mediumship 1.1 Introduction Belief in the ability to communicate with spirits of the deceased has been noted since some of the earliest recordings of human society. Perhaps because of the inevitable universality of the death experience, people have continued (and no doubt will continue) to seek and attribute meanings that situate life and death in an intelligible parallel. People are bound to their dead, who symbolise the past as well as providing reference for the imagined and anticipated future. As Harrison (2003) has noted, "culture perpetuates itself through the power of the dead ... the awareness of death that defines human nature is inseparable from - indeed it arises from - our awareness that we are not self-authored, that we follow in the footsteps of the dead." (Harrison, 2003: ix). Belief in spirit worlds, and particularly in the potential for the return of the dead to the world of the living, can mark the presence of such 'footsteps' as literally near and possibly accessible. Certain individuals who claim to be able to demonstrate communication with such spirit worlds and with the returning dead orientate to and embody these presences in social ritual and experIence. Spirit mediums are one example of those who claim to be able to communicate with spirits of the deceased, and a variety of different cultures have their own spirit 11 mediums. They are often considered as religious or spiritual practitioners, and are bound into the social rules and expectations of their society's religious beliefs and practises. The phenomena they produce are vital to their position: to simply claim contact with spirit others is not enough, mediums must demonstrate this contact, and embody the dead so that they are recognisable to their audience. Mediumship is concerned with the production of tangible scenarios that give the dead a legible presence (see Beattie & Middleton, 1969). Being able to communicate with the dead is usually reserved only for a few specific individuals who are able to do so because of special personal abilities, and so, while mediumship denotes a social practise, underneath the performances lie a series of private experiences.
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