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Talking Nonsense: Spiritual Mediums and Female Subjectivity in Victorian and Edwardian Canada

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Talking Nonsense: Spiritual Mediums and Female Subjectivity in Victorian and Edwardian Canada Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 9-27-2013 12:00 AM Talking Nonsense: Spiritual Mediums and Female Subjectivity in Victorian and Edwardian Canada Claudie Massicotte The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Dr. Sharon Sliwinski The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Theory and Criticism A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Doctor of Philosophy © Claudie Massicotte 2013 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Comparative Literature Commons, Cultural History Commons, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Literature in English, North America Commons, and the Women's History Commons Recommended Citation Massicotte, Claudie, "Talking Nonsense: Spiritual Mediums and Female Subjectivity in Victorian and Edwardian Canada" (2013). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 1656. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/1656 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. TALKING NONSENSE: SPIRITUAL MEDIUMS AND FEMALE SUBJECTIVITY IN VICTORIAN AND EDWARDIAN CANADA By Claudie Massicotte Graduate Program in Theory and Criticism A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy PhD The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada © Claudie Massicotte 2013 ABSTRACT This study traces the development of mediumship in Canada in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Especially popular among women, this practice offered them an important space of expression. Concealing their own identities under spiritual possession, mediums ubiquitously invoked well-known historical figures in séances to transmit their opinions on current issues. As such, they were able to promote new ideas to interested audiences without claiming responsibility for their potentially controversial words. While many studies have been conducted in the United States, Britain, and France regarding the significant role of mediumship in the emergence of women on the political scene, very few have approached this history in Canada. My research defends the importance of studying mediums’ discourses as they provide rare access to Canadian women’s perspectives at a time when public speaking was restricted for them. More particularly, I argue that séances provided women a disguised means to explore, discuss, and reconfigure the notion of female agency within a variety of public and private platforms. I read séances through the works of major figures in feminism and psychoanalysis in order to demonstrate how the complexity of subjectivity performed by mediums questioned traditional understandings of discourse and agency. Examining the trance communications of mediums from pioneering author Susanna Moodie to suffragist Flora MacDonald Denison, among others, my objective is to shed new light on the relations between women and politics, while defending a more inclusive understanding of the historical past that addresses yet unexplored forms of women’s participation in sexual, cultural, and political debates. Keywords: Spiritualism, Mediums, Feminism, Psychoanalysis, Nineteenth Century. ii RÉSUMÉ Cette étude interroge le développement du médiumnisme au Canada de la seconde moitié du 19e siècle au début du 20e siècle. Particulièrement populaire auprès des femmes, la pratique médiumnique leur offrait un important espace d’expression. En effet, en camouflant leur propre identité sous la dite possession spirituelle, les médiums invoquaient couramment l’esprit de figures historiques reconnues afin de transmettre leurs opinions sur des sujets courants. De cette manière, ces femmes parvenaient à promouvoir de nouvelles idées auprès d’un large public, sans avoir à endosser la responsabilité de possibles controverses résultant de leurs discours. Alors que plusieurs études ont été réalisées aux États-Unis, en Angleterre et en France concernant le rôle insoupçonné des médiums dans l’émergence des femmes sur la scène politique, très peu ont abordé cette histoire au Canada. Ma recherche soutient que l’étude des discours médiumniques offre un rare accès aux perspectives des femmes canadiennes à un moment où la parole publique leur était refusée. J’aborde les pratiques spirituelles d’après les œuvres de figures majeures du féminisme et de la psychanalyse afin de démontrer comment la subjectivité complexe engendrée dans les séances met en question la compréhension traditionnelle du discours et de l’intentionnalité. Examinant entre autres les discours médiumniques de l’auteure pionnière Susanna Moodie et de la suffragiste Flora MacDonald Denison, je souhaite jeter un regard nouveau sur les relations entre les femmes et la politique, tout en promouvant une compréhension plus inclusive du passé historique adressant les formes encore inexplorées de la participation des femmes dans les débats sexuels, culturels et politiques. Mots Clés: Spiritualisme, Mediums, Féminisme, Psychanalyse, Dix-neuvième siècle. iii DEDICATION Before the age of ten, I used to gather with my neighbourhood friends to play with the Ouija board. Together, we often contacted the spirit of Gemma, my young playmate’s mother who had recently died in tragic circumstances. Violently taking possession of her daughter, Gemma sometimes voiced evil threats of murder, sometimes wrote angry letters recounting her omniscient knowledge of our mischiefs, sometimes amicably answered our insatiable questions on the topics of love, sexuality, and death, and sometimes protected us against the realization of our deepest fears. In our spiritual encounters, Gemma began to embody the diverse figures and personalities that we attributed to parental authority. As such, her discourses intervened in the development of our personalities; gradually gaining control over her fiery spirit, we also became able to control the fears and anxieties shaping our relation with the external world. I would like to dedicate the following pages to that feared and cherished ghost of ours, and to the living who, like us, developed their own voices through those of the dead. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Like the productions of the séance, this research was only possible through the collaboration of the members of what I would like to call my “circle of believers” who have inspired and contributed to its development. Among the people who helped the completion of my project, I would particularly like to express all my gratitude to Professor Sharon Sliwinski for her generosity and for the confidence that she granted me throughout the years. Through her careful readings, she has provided insights and nuances which deeply enriched the lines of my argument. I have also benefitted from the support of members of the Centre for the Study of Theory and Criticism at the University of Western Ontario. I wish to thank Professors Joel Faflak and Matthew Rowlinson for the enthusiasm they have manifested for my project. I was extremely privileged to receive their guidance on the questionings that arose throughout the writing process. The other members of my evaluating committee, Professors Nancy Christie and Marlene Tromp also deserve my gratitude for their invaluable advice on various sections of the text. I was fortunate to benefit from the financial support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Schmeelk Canada Foundation, the Fonds Québécois de la Recherche sur la Société et la Culture, and the University of Western Ontario’s Graduate Fellowship of Academic Distinction and Centre Excellence Award. My gratitude goes to these institutions for their support to research. Lastly, I owe all my gratitude to my parents and husband: my parents, for believing in, and encouraging, the pursuit of my interests in academia; my husband, Chris Richardson, for his extraordinary ability to read my chapters over and over again and for his undying encouragements. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ ii RÉSUMÉ ........................................................................................................................... iii DEDICATION ................................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................ v TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................... vi LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... viii INTRODUCTION Spiritualism, Female Mediums, and Feminism in Victorian and Edwardian Canada .............................................................................................................. 1 Spiritual séances in the Canadian context ....................................................................... 7 Channeling spirits: mediumship and the female body .................................................. 20 Female mediumship in Canada: a feminist approach ................................................... 29 Interpreting mediums’ discourses ................................................................................
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