Picture©ErnestProtasiewicz

WildorDomesticated:ProgrammeTuesday20thSeptember9:00-9:30

Registration&coffee9:30-9:45 Openingwords,ProfessorMarja-LiisaHonkasalo,UniversityofTurku9:45-10:15 Openingwords,ProfessorPaulinevonBonsdorff,UniversityofJyväskylä10:15-11:45

Keynote-lecture:ProfessorTanyaLuhrmann,StanfordUniversityKnowingGod:Howlocaltheoryofmindhelpsustoexplainsupernaturalexperience

11:45-13:00

Lunch13:00-14.30

Workshop6:UncannyLandscapes,part1 Convenors:JonP.Mitchell,KarisPetty13:00-13:05 JonP.MitchellandKarisPetty:Introductions13:05-13:20 CallumPearce:GiftsfromtheHiddenPeople:Spiritsandthe

unheimlichinthelandscapeofaZangskarivillage13:20-13:35 AlexAisher:Emotion,TheoryandTime:mutualinflectionsofthe

humanandmore-than-humaninIndia's'lasttrulywildplace'13:35-13:50 JonMitchell:HowLandscapesRemember13:50-14:05 HelenCornish:Uncannyenchantment:materialityofmagico-

religionintheMuseumofWitchcraft(andmodernwitches)14:05-14:30 GeneralDiscussion

Workshop9:Thehallucinatoryuncanny:Ontheboundaryofthenormalandpathologicalmind?Convenor:SusanneÅdahl

13:00-13:20 JulianGoodare:EmotionalRelationshipswithSpirit-GuidesinEarlyModernScotland

13:20-13:40 EkaterinaProsandeeva:Voicesofschizophrenia:thelimit-experienceinHenry’sDemons(2011)

13:40-14:00 MariStenlund:Howarepsychoticandexceptionalspiritualviewsofrealitydistinguished?

14:00-14:20 SusanneÅdahl:EthnograhiesofVoiceHearinginFinland

14:20-14:30 Generaldiscussion14:30-15:00

Coffee/teabreak15:00-16:30

Workshop6:UncannyLandscapes,part2Convenors:JonP.Mitchell,KarisPetty

15:00-15:15 KarisPetty:Perception,theenvironmentandtheuncanny:Sensingthewoodlandswithapsychicmediumwhohasimpairedvision

15:15-15:30 PatrickLaviolette:Auto-ban:theHitch-hiker’sGuidetotheUncanny15:30-15:45 BillimarieLubianoRobinson:WanderlustAsRitual:Wonder,

Walking,&theRiseoftheSoloFemaleContemporaryArtistVagabond

15:45-16:00 SusannahGent:TheWanderingMind:Afilmicinvestigationoftheuncannyandthewalkingbody

16:00-16:30 GeneralDiscussion

Workshop2:Themind’sinvolvementwithspiritualandsupernaturalrealities.Convenors:MirjamMencej,KaarinaKoski

15:00-15:30 VladimírBahna:Arebeliefsapartofexperiences,orexperiencesapartofbeliefs?

15:30-16:00 MirjamMencej:Narrativesaboutnightwitchesandalteredstateofconsciousness

16:00-16:30 KaarinaKoski:Themindasasourceandachannelofuncannyexperiences

Workshop7:ThelimitsofreasonConvenors:VibekeSteffen,KirstenMarieRaahauge

15:00-15:10 VibekeSteffenandKirstenMarieRaahauge:Introduction:TheLimitsofReason

15:10-15:30 KatriinaHulkkonen:SpiritualityandBusinessintheLivesofWomenChannellers

15:30-15:50 ReetHiiemëa:ParodisingContemporaryVernacularBelief:TheQuestionofConflict,InterpretationandSymbiosis

15:50-16:10 ÜloValk:VernacularStrategiesandTheoriesofDealingwithGhostsinContemporaryEstonia

16:10-16:30 Concludingremarksandgeneraldiscussion17:00-19:00

Cocktailevent,HouseofScienceandLetters

Wednesday21thSeptember9:00-10:30

Workshop3:Neitherrealnortrue–evidenceandsensoryoverrides Convenor:Marja-LiisaHonkasalo09:00-09:20 EhlerVoss:Thebattleforevidence.Themediumistictrialin

California09:20-09:40 Luka Luka Šešo:"Reality" of traditional beliefs in supernatural

beings09:40-10:00 Marja-LiisaHonkasalo:Makingsenseoftheunseen10:00-10:30 Concludingremarksandgeneraldiscussion

Workshop11:Images,madmenandthehauntedConvenor:TiinaMahlamäki

09:00-09:20 AnnikaJonsson:Thedeceasedasghostlymatterinsocialhaunting09:20-09:40 TatianaTiaynen-QadirandAliQadir:Uncannyimagesandthe

literalismofauthority09:40-10:00 Mariella Asikanius: Aquinas: Can a madman be saved through

sacraments?10:00-10:30 Concludingremarksandgeneraldiscussion

10:30-12:00

Keynote-lecture:ProfessorSimoKnuuttila,UniversityofHelsinkiDemons,OddExperiencesandGalenistMedicalPhilosophy

12:00-13:00

Lunch13:00-14:00

Workshop6:UncannyLandscapes,part3Convenors:JonP.Mitchell,KarisPetty

13:00-13:15 PattiLean:UncannyLandscapes13:15-13:30 GenevieveLutkin:TheUncannyLandscapeintheCinematicSpace13:30-14:00 Concludingremarksandgeneraldiscussion14:00-14:30

Coffee/teabreak14:30-16:00

Workhop1:The“Domus”as“Sharedbreath:”awaytochallengetheboundariesbetween“reality”andbeliefamongindigenouspeoplesConvenor:LauraSiragusa

14:30-14:50 KarinaLukin:KnowingandEncounteringtheOtherworldinNenetsShamanisticPoetry

14:50-15:10 MadisArukask:Wheredotheshepherddwell?15:10-15:30 SarahCarmenMoritz:Co-CreationandReenactmentofthe

RelationshipbetweenSt’át’imcSalishPeopleandtheSalmonPeopleintheFraserRiverValley

15:30-16:00 Concludingremarksandgeneraldiscussion

Workshop4:PsychoanalyticapproachestotheuncannyConvenor&Chair:JussiKotkavirta

14:30-14:50 SusannahGent:TheNeuroscientificUncanny:Aninvestigationintothelimitsofscientificmethod

14:50-15:10 PeppiSievers:Senseofsacredinpsychotherapy15:10-15:30 SamiSantanen:TheUncannyandExperience15:30-16:00 Concludingremarksandgeneraldiscussion17:30-19:00

GuidedtourofSuomenlinna19:00

ConferencedinneratRestaurantSuomenlinnanPanimoThursday22ndSeptember9:00-10:30

Workshop8:Discernment:RecognisingthePresenceofSpirits,part1Convenors:FionaBowie,JackHunterChair:EmilyPierini

09:00-09:10 JackHunter:WelcomeandIntroductions09:10-09:30 JackHunter:Whatdiscernmentmighttellusaboutthenatureof

consciousness09:30-09:50 FionaBowie:SpiritReleaseasTherapy:AnAlternativeWestern

Tradition09:50-10:10 TerencePalmer:SpiritReleaseTherapyandtheArtofDiscernment10:10-10:30 Generaldiscussion

Workshop5:Thepossibilitiesofanencounter:Differingrealities,shiftingcontextsConvenors:PirjoVirtanen,InkeriAula,EleonoraLundell

09:00-09:20 TerhiUtriainen&PeikIngman:TheRelationalDynamicsofEnchantmentandSacralization:ChangingtheTermsoftheReligionvsSecularityDebate

09:20-09:40 JamieBarnes:TheSpeakingBody–MetaphorandtheExpressionofExtraordinaryExperience

09:40-10:00 LeaKantonen&PekkaKantonen:Negotiatingwithancestorsintheplanningofacommunitymuseum

10:00-10:20 Riitta-MarjaLeinonen:“Straightfromthehorse’smouth”–Uncannyexperiencesofcommunicatingwithnon-humananimals

10:20-10:30 Concludingremarksandgeneraldiscussion10:30-12:00

Keynote-lecture:AssistantProfessorDianaEspiritoSanto,ThePontificalCatholicUniversityofChileTrickster Spirit Ethnographies in Rethinking Concepts of Belief and Representation

12:00-13:00

Lunch13:00-14:30

Workshop8:Discernment:RecognisingthePresenceofSpirits,part2Convenors:JackHunter,FionaBowieChair:FionaBowie

13:00-13:20 EmilyPierini:DiscerningSpirits,DefiningSelves:LearningSemi-ConsciousTranceintheValedoAmanhecer

13:20-13:40 MinnaOpus:MoralCorporalities:Non-humanothers.PerspectivismandChristianityinAmazonia.

13:40-14:00 IreneMajoGarigliano:Drinkingblood,dancingonswords:Whatadeitycando,andahumancannot.

14:00-14:30 Concludingremarksandgeneraldiscussion

Workshop10:“It’sAlive!”–ConstructingandMystifyingtheBorderbetweenLifeandDeathinPopularCultureConvenor:HeidiKosonen

13:00-13:05 Openingwords13:05-13:20 HeidiKosonen:Haunted.–ConstructingandMystifying theBorder

between Life and Death in Taboo-Mediating CinematicRepresentationsofSuicide

13:20-13:35 EssiVaris:WhitherDoesThisSenselessCuriosityLeadUs?–ConstructingandMystifyingtheBorderbetweenLifeandDeathinGraphicFrankensteinAdaptations

13:35-13:50 Susanne Ylönen: “Riddikulus!” – Constructing and Mystifying theBorderbetweenLifeandDeathinChildren’sCulture

13:50-14:00 Closingwords14:00-14:30 Discussion14:30-15:30

Finaldiscussionandclosingwords WORKSHOPABSTRACTS

WORKSHOP 1: The “Domus” as “Shared breath:” a way to challenge theboundariesbetween“reality”andbeliefamongindigenouspeoplesMeeting the supernatural and engaging with non-human beings is often not perceived as“uncanny”amongindigenouspeoples.Rather,itisfeltasanexperiencewhichbringstogetherseveral aspects of life, including human and non-human beings, andwhich connects to theenvironment,andbringsback(ornot)socialorder.With thisworkshop,we challenge the assumption that there is a strict distinctionbetween“reality” and “magic/belief” through an analysis of verbal art. We are interested inenchantmentsandotherverbal“magic”practicesamongindigenousgroups.Morespecifically,we inquire how the spoken word along with the intentional breath, is the space throughwhichnegotiationswithnon-humanbeings takeplace.Within this space,humansandnon-humansdemonstrate tohaveagencyandbeable to influence the courseof life events.The“domus” in which they simultaneously dwell, therefore, surpasses a merely geographicalconceptualization,butencompassesalsothebreath, its intentionality,andthespokenword.By adding a new focus to the concept of “domus,” the workshop links to a contemporarydiscussionontherelationsbetweentheindividual,non-humansbeings(animals,spirits,etc.),andtheterritoryinwhichtheylive.ReferenceERC (European Research Council) funded project Arctic Domus, University of Aberdeen,Scotland(PIProf.DavidAnderson)Convenor:LauraSiragusaUniversityofAberdeen,DepartmentofAnthropologylaura.siragusa@abdn.ac.ukKnowingandEncounteringtheOtherworldinNenetsShamanisticPoetryKarinaLukinUniversityofHelsinki,FolkloreStudieskarina.lukin@helsinki.fiNenetsshamanisticpoetryconsistsofsungepicandritualpoetrythatbothdwellinthesamelandscape. This scenery is at the same time built on the everyday premises of the Nenetsnomadicwayoflifeandonthepossibilitiesoforallyprojectingimagesoftheotherworldon

thisquotidianlandscape.Theimagesprojected,areproducedbyspecialistsinoralpoetrythatmaster the traditional contents and imagery of the poetry, its structural and linguisticfeatures, and the strategies for theproduction.Travelling, encounters, andnegotiations arecentral in Nenets shamanistic poetry, as well as the possibilities of misunderstanding,misconduct,andfierceviolencefollowingthem.Theperformanceofthepoetryisgovernedbypoeticandmusicalconventionsthatbothlinktheepicandritualpoetryandsetthemapartincertainrespects.This paper explores the interconnections between Nenets epic and ritual poetry. It willdiscussthenotionsofthesong(syo)andtheword(wada)askeytermsthatopenupviewsontheNenetsunderstandingofpossibilitiesofknowingabouttheotherworld,beingincontactwith it, and transmitting the information about the otherworld. The paper will show thatNenets knowledge about the otherworld is profoundly connected to the ideas ofdissemination of this knowledge through interaction, and through the voice and words ofthose who took part in or witnessed the interaction. Travelling, as a precondition forencountersandinteraction,isintertwinedinpoetrywiththenotionsofsingingandword,andtravellingconnectsthemythiclandscapewithotherworldlybeingsandthepoetics.ThepresentationisbasedonthecorpusofNenetsshamanisticpoetrycollectedbyMatthiasAlexanderCastrénin1840sandToivoLehtisaloin1910s.Itwilldiscusstwogenres,namelytheepicsyudbabtsandtheritualisticsampadabts.Keywords:oralpoetry,shamanism,Nenets,landscape,Otherworld,knowledgeWheredotheshepherddwell?MadisArukaskUniversityofTartumadis.arukask@ut.eeTheFinnic/NorthRussianshepherdasapersonand/orsocialroleisamarginalin-between,somebodytowhomduringtheherdingseasondifferent taboos(moral,behavioural,sexual)mayapply.Thetaboos„aretaken“byhimaccordingtothemagicalagreementwiththeforestspiritwhotakesthenthecattlethenunderhisprotection.EventodayinthenorthernpartsofRussia thatkindof shepherdswhohaveusedorareusing thiskindofmagic canbe found.Alsofortheordinarymembersofcommunitythiskindofrelationshipbetweenshepherdandforestisnothingtoosupranormal.This way the „position“ of shepherd remains between the human society andforest/wilderness. He dwells in his own „autistic room“, holding distance with everythinghumananddaily,andassuringthiswaytheforest’sprotectionoverthecattle.Theshepherd’srelationship with forest (differently to the hunter or gatherer) is not active or contacting.Nordicshepherddoesnotdominateoverthelivestock(differentlywhatIngold2002:72–75states), he is not fully the representative of human community, but rather some kind of„hostage“offorest.Intheherdingperiodshepherdusestokeepsilent.Nevertheless,theverbalmagichasitsroleintheherding,especiallyontheSt.George’sdaywhencattleisletout.Thisdaytheritualismadewhere the cattle has circled by shepherd using somemagical items. The ritual takes

place(asexpected)somewhereontheborderofthevillage,nearforest.Thespecialprayer-likecharm isperformedbyshepherdorby thevillagesorcerer/healer.Often thesame texthasbeenwrittenonthepaper(Bobrov&Fintšenko1986)andiftheshepherdwasilliteratesomebodyelsemight read it in the ritual. Ihavemanaged to copy/photograph thatkindoftextsfrommyVepsianinformants.Asartefactsthesetextsonpaperhavebeenmagicalproofsaboutthecompetenceofshepherd.Shepherdhadtokeepthispaperawayfromotherpeoplenot to breach the contract with forest and loose themagic protective power– similarly tohealerwhokeepshischarmsstrictlyhimself.Keywords:Finnicpeoples,folkmagic,forest,NorthRussia,shepherd,verbalmagic,writtenReferencesBobrov & Fintšenko 1986 = Бобров, А.Г. & Финченко, А.Е. Рукописный отпуск впастушескойобрядностиРусскогоСевера(конецXVIII–началоXXвв).–РусскийСевер:проблемыэтнокультурнойистории,этнографииифольклористики.Ленинград:Наука,pp.135–164.Ingold,Tim2002:ThePerceptionoftheEnvironment:EssaysonLivelihood,DwellingandSkill.LondonandNewYork:Routledge.Co-CreationandReenactmentoftheRelationshipbetweenSt’át’imcSalishPeopleandtheSalmonPeopleintheFraserRiverValleySarahCarmenMoritzMcGillUniversitySarah.Moritz@mail.mcgill.caTheSt’át’imcSalishcommunitieshave thrived ingoverning their traditional fisheries in theFraserRiverValleyofBritishColumbia,Canada, for centuries. It is said that this isnot justbecause there were laws and social institutions in place but because these laws andinstitutions are grounded in a particular way of thinking about, communicating with, andhonouring fish, fishing and fishing technologies. This system of beliefs includes profoundnotionsofrespectandcollaborationinco-creatingtherelationshipsthatsustain‘life’,’body’,‘mind’,‘spirit’and‘home’(domus).St’át’imcbelieve(d)thatalllivingthingswereoncepeopleandtheyarerespectedassuch.Itwasbelievedthatthesalmonrunswerelineagesinrelationsofkinshiptohumanlineagesandthataslongasthesalmonwereallowedtoreturntotheirhomeriverstospawn,thenbothlineageswouldthrive.First fish,particularly ‘wild’salmon,ceremoniesbeforetheannualharvestandreturnofsalmonwereconductedtowelcomethefirst fish and ensure posterity through respect, friendship and proper treatment. Prayers,songs,speechesandceremonialactionswereconductedtogiverecognitionto thespiritsofthe salmon and to co-create through reenactment the space and conditions necessary toensurethepossibilityofcontinuedlife,growthandunity.Theprimacyofthesalmoninthisreciprocalrelationshipssustainsthelivelihoodandwellbeingofthehumancommunitywhichis highly endangered in times of fluctuation in salmon stocks and in destruction of salmonhabitat. Drawing on a variety of historical and contemporary ethnographic (mis-)representationsoftherelationshipbetweenthesalmonpeopleandtheirhumankinandontherationaleunderlyingthecurrenteffortstorevitalizethesepracticesintheUpperSt’át’imccontext, this paper will explore explicit notions of the domus that challenge prevalentexternally imposed dichotomies such as wild/domesticated and belief/reality by showing

how the distinct components of these relationships are inextricably entangled in thesimultaneityoftheliteralandthesymbolicinthefishingwayoflife.Keywords: St’át’imc Salish, traditional fishery, traditional governance, salmon people,culturalrevitalization,traditionalecologicalknowledge,relationalontologies,domestication,IndigenouslawWORKSHOP2:Themind’sinvolvementwithspiritualandsupernaturalrealitiesBelief systems which acknowledge the existence of other realities or supernatural beingssometimesassumethattheencounterswiththemrequireanalteredstateofconsciousnessora person with special mental abilities. States like trance, dream or deep meditation makepeopleexperiencethingswhichcan,dependingontheinterpreter,beviewedasrealcontactstootherrealitiesorasimagesemergingfromone’sownmind.Alsoinafullyconsciousstate,people can encounter strange, mysterious, uncanny experiences. Psychologists andneurologists have shown various cognitive and physiological explanations for anomalousexperiences. However, these are not always acknowledged or agreed upon by people andcommunities who give other meanings to the experiences. In an emic view, a mentalsusceptibility to otherworldly contacts can be viewed for example as a sign that spiritualbeings have chosen the person to carry theirmessages. Or, the explanations are regardedmerely a neural basis for phenomenawhich have a deeper spiritual significance. Lately, itseemsthatinthewesternsocieties,theroleofthemindinuncannyencountershasincreasedwhile the images of other worlds have become culturally more fragmented and multiple.There are various reasons for themind’s relevance, for example the psychological turn inpopular thinking that has started transferring spirits from an outer reality to the humansubconscious. Themind has a central role also in eastern philosophieswhich have gainedpopularity graduallywithin a century via esoteric andNewAgemovements. In addition tomeditation, the trainingof one’smindmayhave various goals involvingother realities andpsychicabilities. Inotherwords, spiritualandmentalarenotmutuallyexcludingaspects inthe interpretation of uncanny experiences. This panel proposal welcomes papers whichanalyze the role or contribution of the mind in encounters and practices which areneverthelessinterpretedasspiritualorsupernatural.Convenors:MirjamMencejUniversityofLjubljana,DepartmentofEthnologyandCulturalAnthropologymirjam.mencej@guest.arnes.siKaarinaKoskiUniversityofTurku,DepartmentofCulturalStudieskaakos@utu.fiArebeliefsapartofexperiences,orexperiencesapartofbeliefs?VladimírBahnaSlovakAcademyofSciences,InstituteofEthnologyvladimir.bahna@gmail.com

According to certain cognitive theories of religion, the attractiveness of supernaturalrepresentations is based on their contradiction to our intuitive expectations, which allowsthem to be easily remembered and transmitted. This theoretical framework was appliedpredominantlytothedomainofculturaltransmittion,but,asitisarguedhere,itcanbelinkedalso to religious or supernatural experiences. This paper is focused on the concepts, of anagent capable of directmanipulation of other agents’ body states,what is contradictory tohumanintuitiveexpectationaboutagents.Thisspecifictypeofcounter-intuitiveconceptshasbeenso-faroverlookedinthecognitivescienceofreligionandtheauthorclaimsthatitcanbecrucial toexplainthecognitivebackgroundofexperienceswhichare linkedtosupernaturalagency (e.g. sense of presence, possessions, glossolalia etc.). On one hand culturally sharedbeliefsaboutsuchagents,canbeusedasexplanatorymodelsfordifferentbodilyexperiences.On the other hand, several naturally occurring body states disturb the sense of self-agencyand lead spontaneously to attribution of these body states to external agency, which canhenceleadtoanewformationandfurtherspreadofsupernaturalagentbeliefsofthiskind.Thispaperisbasedonethnographicdatafromnorth-westSlovakia.Keywords: supernatural experiences, counter-intuitiveness, sense of agency, feelings, bodyperception.NarrativesaboutnightwitchesandalteredstateofconsciousnessMirjamMencejUniversityofLjubljana,DepartmentofEthnologyandCulturalAnthropology,FacultyofArtsmirjam.mencej@guest.arnes.siThefieldresearchconductedinruraleasternSloveniain2000-2001revealedagreatnumberof narratives, usually first or second hand memorates about people being led astray bywitches intheforestsatnight. Ineverydaycommunicationthesenarrativesfulfilledvarioussocial functions,but thecore featuresof thedescriptionsof theexperience–suchasseeingthelights,referencestotheshiftofconsciousness,asensationofflightandcircularmovement–showremarkablesimilaritieswithcharacteristicfeaturesofalteredstateofconsciousness.Thispaper aims to show that in thesenarratives at least somepeopledescribed a genuineexperienceof analtered stateof consciousness,which they tried toexpresswith theaidofavailableculturalvocabulary.Keywords: experience, altered states of consciousness, witches, narratives, culturalvocabularyThemindasasourceandachannelofuncannyexperiencesKaarinaKoskiUniversityofTurku,Folkloristicskaakos@utu.fiTheroleofthemindismanifoldintheexplanationswhichpeoplegivetotheirownuncannyexperiences. In Finland, reactions toward personal uncanny experiences are ambiguous,reflecting the controversial statusofboth theexperiences themselvesand the stereotypicalexpectation of interpreting them as supernatural or paranormal. Even though the interesttowards new forms of spirituality has recently increased, supernatural beliefs are widely

consideredascontrarytocommonsenseandrationalideals.Myresearchmaterials–internetdiscussionsandletterscontainingwrittenexperiencenarratives–showthatpeopledohaveuncanny experiences regardless of their world view and beliefs. They sense for exampleencounters with beings or persons who are not physically present, or they experienceprecognitions,telepathyorout-of-bodyexperiences.Noteveryoneiswillingtointerprettheirexperiencesassupernaturalorparanormal.OnesolutionwhichfeelsmorelegitimatetoFinnswith a science-based world view is to turn to psychological explanations. Psychologicalponderingshave entered everydaydiscourse graduallyduring the20th century.Today, it isquitecommonthattheexperientsthemselvesmentionthecontributionoftheiremotionsanddesires to the experience and locate the source of the encountered ghosts or spirits in themind. This does not mean denying the reality of the experience but finding an acceptableexplanation to it. Beside psychology, the increased role of the mind resonates withcontemporary spiritual and wellbeing movements which apply meditative techniques.Meditation and altered states of consciousness are not only regarded as a source but as achannelof theencounters.Assuggested invariousbelief systemsoldandnew, thesestatesmake itpossible tocontactotherrealities.Forsomepeople, theotherrealitiesonlyexist intheirownsubconsciouswhichtheyareabletocontacte.g.indreams.Othersfeeltheycontactanother,perhapssupernaturalWORKSHOP3:Neitherrealnortrue–evidenceandsensoryoverridesHowdoyouconvincesomeoneoftheexistenceoftheinvisibleandnon-existing?Howdoyoumake people believe that voices that no one else hears are real and true? Questions ofevidenceandproofarecrucialfortheresearchontheuncanny.Theuncannyisalsoadomainthatcrystallizesmanyofthecurrentinterdisciplinaryproblemswhenitcomestoquestionsofevidence. Different disciplines, policies and institutional practices define the criteria ofevidenceindifferentways.Inourwesternsocietythecriteriathatmeasuresvalidity,isbasedonquantitativeandmeasurableground.Thisleadstoaseriesofpoliticalquestionsonpower.Today, researches speak of ‘regimes of evidentiality’ as a place where science, knowledge,organizationsandpowermeet.Ininterdisciplinaryresearch,whohastherighttodefinethecriteria of evidence? Who can decide how to represent evidence? These are only fewquestionsthatourpanelwantstoposeandtobasediscussionson.The research into evidence is split into different academic domains. In anthropologicalresearch,thetestimoniesthatpeopleusewhentheydonothaveanyotherwaystoconvinceother than their own experience comprise a certain sort of speech acts in the category ofdesperateevidenceproviding.Theyilluminate“thelackingofevidence”inthemeaningofnotbeingable to communicate theexperience inaproperwaywhen thepowerdiscoursesaresuch as law ormedicine. Research on testimony – and evidence- has been rich in history,especially concerningmiraculous healing, canonization, court cases and experiences ofwarvictims, andmore recently among the experiences of refugees and asylum seekers. A largeamount of literature in the humanities originates from the studies on the narratives of theHolocaustsurvivors.Convenor:Marja-LiisaHonkasaloUniversityofTurku,CenterfortheStudyofCultureandHealthmarja-liisa.honkasalo@utu.fi

Thebattleforevidence–ThemediumistictrialinCaliforniaEhlerVossUniversityofSiegenehler.voss@uni-siegen.deInmyresearch I followthecontroversyaboutmediumism, i.e. thetestingof thecapabilitiesandpotentialsofboth technicalmediaandhumanmediums.
Throughout the19thcenturymediumismwasthesubjectofacontroversywhichwasstagedasagreattransatlanticpublicdebate between religious and secular interests and this controversy has had a significantimpactonthewaymediumismhasbeendiscussedandtestedinotherregionsoftheworldaswell. Towards the end of the 19th century mediumism was “domesticated” by variousstrategies in public discourse, through archaization (attributing it to a premodern state ofmind), psychological immanentization (transferring magical agency to the “psyche” or the“mind”)andpathologization (treatingand separating the individual).Even if this led to thedissolutionofextensivepublicdebatesonmediumism,thetestingofmediumisticcapabilitiesandpotentialsofhumansinalteredstatesofconsciousnessaswellastechnologyhasnotyetdisappearedinthe21stcentury.Inthe20thand21stcentury,mediumistictrialscontinuetobeconducted(e.g.inneuroscience,psychiatry,parapsychology,mindresearch,consciousnessstudies,churches,esotericism,ethnology,art,andtheskepticmovement)andtheyregularlyproduce new controversies and “trading zones” for different claims and interests. Thesecontroversiesconstituteafieldinwhichtheboundariesbetweentechnicalmediaandhumanmediums, believing and knowing, fake and authenticity, religion and the secular areconstantlynegotiatedandoftenblur.

Based on anthropological fieldwork among ghost hunters, magicians, parapsychologists,spiritualists, and skeptics inCalifornia, a regionwheremanymediumistic trialsof the20thand21st Century received crucial impulses, Iwill show the current attempts of proving ordisproving “theparanormal”and thepotentialsof thehumanmindand inspiredbyScienceandTechnologyStudiesIwillinterpretthesesfindingsagainstthebackgroundofthehistoryofmediumismfromasymmetricalperspective."Reality"oftraditionalbeliefsinsupernaturalbeingsLukaŠešoCatholicUniversityofCroatia,DepartmentofSociologyluka.seso@unicath.hrFormorethanahundredyears,witches,mòras,werewolves,fairiesandothercreatureshavebeen in the focus of Croatian ethnologists and folklorists who have collected numerousaccounts about folk life mentioning these supernatural beings. My recent field work inDalmatioanhinterland(partofCroatia)hasshownthattodaygroupsandindividualsstilltellvividstories,andsomeevenbelieve insupernaturalbeings.Thus, in thispaper Iwill try tounderstandtherole thebelief insupernaturalbeingsplays in thecommunity inwhich theyappear. Iwillarguethateventodaytheregulationofsocialnorms isoneof themainsocialroles of the “existence” of supernatural beings. The breaking of taboos, social, moral orreligious values causes someone to become a werewolf or to encounter some othersupernaturalbeingthatpunishestheoffender.Supernaturalbeingsalsoserveasameansof

social strain gauge. Dissatisfaction and the unwillingness to accept unfavorable conditionpresupposetheexistenceofwitchesandmòras inacommunitywhotaketheresponsibilityfor all the troubles. Supernatural beings, in which often real, undesirable members of thecommunity can be recognized, become scapegoats responsible for themisfortune and thusclear the accused of the responsibility for the problem. Emphasizing personal beliefs insupernatural beings for some inhabitants of the Dalmatian hinterland also serves forexpressingtheirownaffiliationwithacertaingroup.Byhavinginformation,knowledgeaboutcertain events andoccurrences, and finally bydemonstrating their own involvement in theproblem of supernatural beings, certain individuals in the Dalmatian hinterland show thattheybelongtothecommunityandconnectthebeliefinsupernaturalbeingswiththeirhome.At the same time, supernatural beings have the purpose of indirect determination of therelationshiptowardotherethno-confessionalgroups.Byattachingnegativecharacteristicsofsupernatural beings to the Others or by comparing the members of other groups withparticularsupernaturalbeings,thedifferencesbetweengroupsareemphasized.Today,fromtheinterlocutorswecanalsolearnthatthebeliefsinsupernaturalbeingswereused(andstillare) in illegal gaining of profit aswell as improving certain individual’s unfavorable status.Themechanismisthesame.Wittyindividualsreachaftersupernaturalcharacteristicsandthesymbolism of supernatural beings and use them in order to fool those who still stronglybelieveinthemandtheirpower.MakingsenseoftheunseenMarja-LiisaHonkasaloUniversityofTurku,CenterfortheStudyofCultureandHealthmarja-liisa.honkasalo@utu.fiThis paper is concerned with people’s attempts to describe their experiences of sensoryoverridesandtomakethemcomprehensibletothe listener.Asdata, Imakeuseoftheover180 letters on kumma, the uncanny, that our research project Mind and the Other(mindandotjer.com)receivedspontaneouslyaftersomebelittlingandridiculingnews in theFinnishmedia.Thepeoplewhowrotetousabouttheirkummaexperiencesmentionthattheyhave not shared the experiencewith others frequently. This has been noted also in earlierresearch. The writers mentioned that the reason why they didn’t tell anyone about theseexperienceswastoavoidthefeelingofstigmatizationandthefeelingofnotbeingunderstood.Somewriterswrotethattheyhadencounteredprofessionalsofe.g.thehealthcaresectororthechurchwhohadhaddeprecatingorinsultingattitudes.Manywritersstartedtheirlettersby asking us researchers to help them – this was due to them having recurrently beendisappointedwiththeencounterstheyhadhadwithothersocialinstitutions.Several letters resemble testimonies andmostwriters know that the readerprobablydoesnot share the sameworldof experience.Theyaswriters fearnotbeingable toprovide thekind of evidence that themedical personnel, state officials – including us as researchers –want as a form of truth. The evidence they provide consists of intricately detailedwrittendescriptionsof“unsayablity”.InthispaperIcomparetheseattemptsatshapingtheevidencein the letterswithnarrativesofpain,the resultsofa study I carriedoutearlier, inorder toanalyzethewaysinwhichtheinterlocutorseekstoconvincethelistener.

WORKSHOP4:PsychoanalyticapproachestotheuncannyEver since Freud published his famous essay The Uncanny in 1919, the notion has had aprominent place in psychoanalytic thinking. Following Freud’s discussion it has beenparticularly important in interpretingpsychoanalyticallyworksof literatureandart,but itssignificanceisactuallymuchwiderwhenwethinkofhowthepastispresentinourlivesandminds. Something that seems to be familiar or homely may turn into something strange,frighteninganduncanny.Thisisbecauseweneverarefullyawareofallthepossibleconflictsand anxietieswithin us or between us as individualminds. It is pivotal for psychoanalyticthinking in general to be always open to such ambiguities, and the notion of uncanny hasprovedtobeindispensablehere.Freudhimselfwasoriginallyaneuroscientist,whoinventedpsychoanalysisandthengaveupthe project researching the connections betweenmind and brain. His principal interest inthese connections remained however. More recently the discussions concerningneuropsychoanalysis have been lively indeed and new theoretical ideas as well asapplicationsarebroughtup.Thisisthecasewiththeuncannyaswell.Theworkshopisbuiltup of three papers that approach the uncanny from different perspectives, neuroscientific,philosophical and religious, and also discuss the wider significance of psychoanalyticapproaches to the uncanny. The overall aim is to contribute to the discussions of theconferencetopics.Convenor&Chair:JussiKotkavirtaApsychoanalystinprivatepracticeinHelsinkijussi.kotkavirta@gmail.comTheNeuroscientificUncanny:AninvestigationintothelimitsofscientificmethodSusannahGentSheffieldHallamUniversitySusannah.Gent@shu.ac.ukFilmmaker Susannah Gent employs a diverse range of methodological approaches toinvestigate the uncanny, including art practice, psychoanalysis, and scientific method.Following Mark Solm's assertion: ‘There can’t be a mind for neuroscience and a mind forpsychoanalysis. There’s only one human mind’, (Schwartz 2015) she believes thatinterdisciplinary approaches will reveal interesting peripheral elements which would notcome to light through single field investigations. In ‘Das “Unheimlich”’ Freud describes theuncannyasa‘classoffear’.Formanyyearsemotionhasbeenconsideredtoosubjectiveandinappropriate for scientific study yet it was Freud's conviction that psychoanalysis was ascience.Recentbrain imaging technologyhas lead toa resurgenceof interest inemotion inscientificfields.Gent'sresearchinvolvesaneyetrackingsurveyandanfMRIstudywhichaimto see if scientific approaches can lead to uncovering a neurological underpinning to theuncanny. This study is combined with an experimental film project which documents theprocess as well as instilling uncanny sensations in the audience, an approach whichrecognisesartpracticeasaformofresearch.Byallowingthecreativeprocess,amethodledby non- or unconscious affective decision making, an external artefact, in this case anexperimental film, can provide the focus for intersubjective dialogue against a backdrop ofobjective, scientificmethod. Currently Gent has undertaken a behavioural studywhich has

producedanimagesetof300imagesratedaccordingtoeerinessvalanceby250participants.In thispresentationGentwill lookat the top tenof those imagesanddiscusswhyshe feelspsychoanalysisoffersthebestanalyticaltoolsforunderstandinghowtheseimagesactuponthe participants. The image set is intriguing and includes, in the top ten, an image ofeuphemistically named prairie oysters from a cookery blog, suggesting that the Freudiancastration complex may hold a place in the collective human psyche. This research-in-progress evaluation of interdisciplinary approaches is underpinned by the conviction thathumanistic investigations can compliment scientific research as they employ methodsunavailable to objective research, essential when researching subjectivity. Ultimately Gentbelievesthatourexperienceoftheuncannystems,inpart,fromthehaphazardevolutionarydevelopment of the brain, where mismatches between our consciousness experiences andunconscious processes produce cognitive dissonance. This indicates a gap or grey areabetweenwhatweexperienceandwhatwethinkweknow.Keywords: uncanny, psychoanalysis, neuroscience, neuropsychoanalysis, interdisciplinary,consciousness,unconscious,Freud,Damasio,brainReferencesFreud,Sigmund,(1919)“The‘Uncanny’”,inTheStandardEditionoftheCompletePsychologicalWorks of SigmundFreud, vol. 17, trans. and ed. by James Strachey et al., London: Hogarth,1955Schwartz, Casey, The Atlantic, When Freud Meets fMRI,accessed1/2/16Theimagesbelowarefromthebehaviouralsurvey,discussedabove,whichwouldformpartoftheproposedpresentation.SenseofsacredinpsychotherapyPeppiSieversUniversityofEasternFinland(UEF),PracticalTheology/PsychoanalystandpsychotherapistatTherapeiafoundationpeppi.sievers@fimnet.fiInmydoctoralthesisIhavestudiedhowpsychotherapistsmanagethereligious,spiritualorexistential material of their patient`s. In this qualitative study I analysed interviews of 11psychodynamicand9cognitivepsychotherapists.Mymain focus is todescribewhat it feelsliketoworkwiththiskindofmaterialandwhythismaterialisstillsometimessospecificinits nature, that it is difficult to work with. It was a real surprise to me that some of thepsychotherapistsreallysensedorrealisedmomentswhentheirpatientswereincontactwiththeir own deep sense of sacred or holy. When this happened, they ceased to work withpsychotherapeutictoolsandjustrespectedtheirpatientsexperience.Theydidnothaveneedto verbalize or rationalize these phenomena. It was something that was happening on thelevelofexperience.Oneofthecoreideasinmydissertationisthatpeopleareobject-orientedfrombirth.Weforminternal representations of objects and of ourselves in relation to these objects`. Theserepresentationsinourmindchangeconstantly,ifweletthemchange.Verymeaningfulinthisrespect is the socalled transitional space. In thechildhood transitional space firstdevelops

whenthechildusessomekindoftransitionalobject.Thisobjectrepresentsatthesametimepart of something outside of the child, and something inside his/her mind. In an optimalsituation this transitional space stayswith thepersonand it canbeused inavery creativeway.Ifonecanusehis/hertransitionalspacefreely,art,religionandnewscientifictheoriesdevelop.Transitional space is also the place where all knowledge of experiences lies. Here we aremostly human beings and can experience how other humans, things, phenomena andrelations feel. These are also experienceswe are not capable of fully expressing inwords.Theseexperiencesarepossiblyuncannyandatleastdeeplypersonal.Inpsychotherapiespeopleareaskedto talkandexpresseverythingthat isontheirmind. Ifpsychotherapy is to be optimally beneficial to the person this deep level of experiencingshould also come to the front. Then it is crucial how thepsychotherapist listens toher/hispatient.Ifthepsychotherapististoohastywithher/hisinterventionsorcan`treachthislevelof beingwith the patient, the results of psychotherapy can be disintegrating to the patientinsteadofthepatientbecomingmorewhole.Keywords: psychotherapy, transitional space, representations of themind, object-oriented,religion,spirituality,knowledgeofexperiences,holy,sacredTheuncannyandexperienceSamiSantanensesantanen@gmail.com”Theegoisnotmasterinitsownhouse”(S.Freud).Inphilosophicalterms:”Thesubjectisnotmaster in its own house” (B. Waldenfels). This state of affairs is a matter of experience,although the experience proves to be of extraordinary character. In this paper I compareFreud’s psychoanalytic approach to the experience of the uncanny and Waldenfels’sphenomenologicalconceptionofwhathecallsthealienexperience(Fremderfahrung),thatis,of thepathicityofexperience.WhatI’mtryingtoshowisthatthereare, inFreud’sanalysis,someelementsthathelptounderstandtheradicalityoftheideaofthealienexperience.Atthesame time there are to be found certain aspects of the uncanny resonating inWaldenfelsanalysisthataremorestressedbyotherthinkersthanFreud.To begin with the experience of the uncanny, let it be noted that Freud approaches theuncanny from the point of view of the psyche. As to my topic the discussion that Freuddevotesattheoutsetofthearticle”TheUncanny”(dasUnheimliche)(1919)tothemeaningsof theGermanwordunheimlich (uncanny) is of central importance.He finds that thewordheimlich – the latter component of the word unheimlich signifying usually ”familiar” or”homely”–alsomeans“secret”,“keptfromsight”(orotherwiserepressed)thatisidenticaltoits opposite unheimlich. Unheimlich and heimlich (”unfamiliar” and ”familiar”), then, areintertwined, they are in this respect not opposites. Freud quotes the Schellingian formula”everything isunheimlich that ought to have to remain secret and hidden but has come tolight”and,consequentially,linksthephenomenonoftheuncannytorepression,tothereturnoftherepressed.HereIwouldlike,however,torefertoHeidegger’sviewoftheuncanny.HeseesthefamiliarasamodeoftheuncanninesswhileFreudin”TheUncanny”holdsthat”theuncanny[…]leadsbacktowhatisknownofoldandlongfamiliar”.

ForBernardWaldenfelsthiskindofdifferencehasnorelevancealthoughthemomentofthealien(Fremde)gainsinimportanceandisradicalizedinhisanalysisofpathicexperience.ForhimtheuncannydescribedbyFreudpermeatesthehome,thefamiliarresultinginthealienexperience inhabitedby theuncanny.The extra-ordinarynature of this experience and e.g.thespatialimplicationswillbediscussed.WORKSHOP5:Thepossibilitiesofanencounter:Differingrealities,shiftingcontextsResearchastheencounterbetweentheresearcherandhisorhersubjectinevitablybringstheresearcher topartake indiffering contexts and realities, inwhichdifferentperceptionsandnotionsapply.Thispanel looksat culturalanalysesofdifferingontological, epistemological,andethicalcontextsandrealities,wherefindingadequatetoolsforanalysisposeschallenges.Theresearchdata,forexample,tendstobetranslatedintoexistingfieldsofscience,withtheirownlanguage,discourse,andparadigms,butinordertomakeappropriateanalysisofculturalexperience, assemblages, actor-networks, or different onto-ethico-epistemologies (Barad2007)requiressensitivitytoshiftingcontexts.Previous studies have already addressedquestions related to these issues, such aswhat infact are the contexts to be compared. Shifting contexts of knowledge-production includebroaderandnarrowerformations,betweenwhichthescientificanalysisdrawscomparisonsandmovesduring theresearchprocess (Strathern1995,2014).Yet, collaborative,engaged,andexperimentalresearchhasalteredthe‘sites’whereresearchisbeingcarriedout,andtheboundariesofdifferenceareconstantlyonthemove.Theseshiftingframeworksoftenoverlapand encompass each other. Research collaborators may have divergent perspectives andpositions for constructing both cognitive and social contexts for interaction, and theymayemergedifferentlyinindividual’severydaylives.Diversenon-humanentities,suchasobjects,animals, and plants, and other life forms exercise their social power in ways that arechallengingforascientificanalysiswishingnottoexplainawaythesekindsofphenomenainareductivemanner.Meanwhile,thecontemporary‘west’hasbeenlabeledbysomeaslivingapost-secularisteracharacterizedbyasearchforre-enchantment.Inthesenewshiftingcontextsofresearch,thenotionsrelatedtosubjectivityandagencyaretightlyconnectedtoplacesandterritories,totimeandspace,andtohowsocialrelationsareproducedandinterpreted.Intheprocess,thepurposeremainstoenhanceunderstandingandnot reduce difference. This panel invites papers to discuss, but is not restricted to, thefollowingtopics:

- Howcanwemakeproductiveanalysisofdifferentonto-ethico-epistemologies?- How can shifting contexts of research be experienced by researcher and research

collaborators?- Howare(non)humanagenciesincludedinthemakingoftheresearchprocess?- Howtodojusticetodifferentlyconceivedontologiesandcontextsinascientificanalysis?- How to gain, find, and produce appropriate relations, categories and concepts during the

analysis?Convenors:PirjoKristiinaVirtanenUniversityofHelsinki

pirjo.virtanen@helsinki.fiInkeriAulainkeri.aula@gmail.comEleonoraLundellUniversityofHelsinkieleonora.lundell@helsinki.fiTheRelationalDynamicsofEnchantmentandSacralization–ChangingtheTermsoftheReligionvsSecularityDebateTerhiUtriainenUniversityofHelsinkiterhi.utriainen@helsinki.fiPeikIngmanÅboAkademiUniversitypeik.ingman@abo.fiThis presentation serves to informabout a forthcoming edited volumewith the above title(October2016,Equinox).The volume revisits the concepts of enchantment and sacralization in light of perspectiveswhichchallenge themodernnotion thatman (alone) is themeasureofall things.AsBrunoLatourhasargued,thebattleagainstsuperstitionentailedshiftingpowerawayfromGod/thegodstohumans,therebydisqualifyingtheagencyalltheotherobjectsintheworld.Weask,might enchantment and sacralizationbeunderstood inotherways than through thisbattlebetweenalmightygodsandalmightyhumans?Mightenchantmentbeunderstoodtoinvolveprocesseswherepowerandcontrolarenotdistributedsoclearlyanddefinitively?Like social constructionists, Latour emphasizes that things areconstructed, yet, like manyother new materialists, such as Jane Bennett, Manuel De Landa and Karen Barad, heemphasizesthatthisconstructionisnottheresultofprojectingmeaningontoapassiveandmeaningless world, but a matterof compositional achievements, whereby assemblages ofactants co-compose each other and frame, enable and delimit one another’s agency. Thismove recognizes the active participation of players beyond the humans versus God(s)framework that informed the modernist project. Understanding enchantment andsacralization as compositionally and relationally constructed does not mean the same asunderstandingthem as constructed by humans alone. What it means is one of the mainquestions posed in this book. In other words, if enchantment and sacralization are notunderstood(solely)intermsofprojectinganthropocentricmeaningontomuteobjects,whataresomepromisingalternativeapproaches(oldandnew)andwhataretheirimplicationsforhowweunderstandmodernityandformethodandtheoryinthestudyofreligion?Discussing some key concerns and themes in the book, two of the co-editorswill note therelevance of the volume for the present conference theme(s) and respond to questionsconcerningthecontentsofits12chapters.Thepresentationwillalsopresentthearguments

posedintheintroductionregardingthebenefitsofdirectingthefocusofreligiousstudiesontotherelationaldynamicsindiversecompositionsinvolvingenchantmentandsacralization.TheSpeakingBody–MetaphorandtheExpressionofExtraordinaryExperienceJamieBarnesUniversityofSussexjb368@sussex.ac.ukIn thispaper,buildingupon recent ‘ontological’ imperatives to take seriously theworldsofresearchparticipantsanddrawinguponanthropologicalworkon the sensesenablingus toconceive ‘alternative’ sensoriums not necessarily conforming to those dominant withinsecularsocieties,Iarguethatexperience‘inthebody’oftenactsasapowerfulgroundingforceinbothone’ssenseofbeing-in-the-worldandthat-which-is.Eventswhichmayseemunusualor extraordinary within secular paradigms are not necessarily conceived as such withinworldswherenon-corporealbeingsarenotonlythoughttoexistbutalsoconstitutevibrantaspects of one’s lived experience. However, in order to convey, and indeedmake sense of‘alternative’experiences,actorsoftenmoveortranslatetheseexperiencesthroughmetaphorinto more familiar domains. Often one metaphor will not do, as it only translates onedimensionoftheexperience,andassuchobscuresotherelements.Thispaperconsidersoneperson’s metaphorical moves in order to convey an ‘extraordinary’ experience, namely ahighly sensorial encounter with the divine. As the subject slides from one metaphor toanother,forthelistener,anincreasinglylucidimpressionoftheencounteremerges.Andyettheexperienceitself,wrappedinhumansubjectivity,alwaysremainsbeyondourgrasp.Themetaphors stretch toward the experiencewithout ever being able to adequately express it.Thispaperarguesthat, inconsideringthearchitectureofreligiousexperience,sensitivitytothe use of metaphor (both its powers and its limits) is essential. Those seeking to takeseriously and understand the ‘extraordinary’ experience of others need to appreciate howmetaphor ‘works’ and how, within any social matrix, a listener’s experience of the‘extraordinary’ – or lack of it – plays into the space of interaction, continually shaping themetaphorsthe‘speakingother’employsinordertomakehimorherselfunderstood.Finally,entertaining adifferentnotionof that-which-is invitesus to reconceiveour ideas about thenatureof thesensoriumbywhichthat ‘reality’ isexperiencedandsensedandthenatureofthe body that conceives it. Through opening up our ideas about a) the sensorium, b)whatexiststhatmightbesensed,andc)thenatureofthebodythatconceivesit,wecomeclosertoanswering the ‘ontological’ challenge to take seriously ‘alternative’ domains of humanexperience.NegotiatingwithancestorsintheplanningofacommunitymuseumLeaKantonenUniversityoftheArtsHelsinkilea.kantonen@uniarts.fiPekkaKantonenUniversityoftheArtsHelsinkipekka.kantonen@uniarts.fi

IntheprocessofplanningacommunitymuseuminthecontextoftheWixarikacommunity-basedschoolTatuutsiMaxakwaxi(OurGreat-grandfatherDeertail)togetherwiththeFinnishNGO CRASH and Mexican university ITESO we need the permission of the communityauthoritiesaswellasthatofthedeifiedancestors(kaka+yari,plur.kaka+yarixi)forstayinginthe community, conducting art workshops and filming videos for the museum collectionstogetherwiththeteachers.Thekaka+yarixiareusuallybenevolent,butsomeofthemcanbecapriciousatcertaintimes.Theycommunicatetheirwishesthroughdreamsandchantsofamaraakame, shaman-priest and through omens, for example sudden appearance anddisappearanceof certainanimals andobjects.Theyacceptofferings in exchangeof success,wellbeingandgoodhealth.Theymaysendsicknessandmisfortuneiftheyarenotveneratedas they should.We, the teiwari, the non-wixarika, are not expected to give offerings to thekaka+yarixi,however,weshouldshowthemrespect.Our relationship with our informants,maraakame and community musician Niereme andcraftteacher´Utiama,hasanaspectofcollegialitysincewecollaborateasmuseumplannersandartteachers.Howeverwesometimeshavedifficultiesinmutualunderstanding:theytendto see omens and interventions of kaka+yarixi where we only see coincidence, and it hasimplicationsforthemuseumplanning.Whenthishappensweneedstoptodiscussbeforewecanproceedinourcollaboration.Nieremeand´Utiamathenexplainevents,interpretomensandnegotiatewiththekaka+yarixiforus.Diana Espirito Santo ja Ruy Blanes apply the term ”evidentiary regimes” for studyingexperiencesofinteractionwithspirits.Werelatetotheseregimesthroughpracticalcases.Inthispaperwerefer toNiereme´sand ´Utiama´sexperiencesasevidenceofkaka+yarixi.ThecasesstudiedareavideoedpilgrimagewithofferingstothesacredplaceTuramukameta,anappearance of a scorpion, and a disappearance of two suitcases during a museologyworkshop.“Straightfromthehorse’smouth”–Uncannyexperiencesofcommunicatingwithnon-humananimalsRiitta-MarjaLeinonenUniversityofOuluriitta-marja.leinonen@oulu.fiAnthropologicalevidencesuggests thathumansacross timesandcultureshaveexperienceddeep connection and communicationwithnature andnon-humanbeings. (Plec 2013;Hurn2012;Nadasdy2007; Ingold2000;ViveirosdeCastro1998).Todayanimal communication,which isunderstoodhere includingacoustic,visual, tactileandtelepathiccommunication, isconsidered part of the ‘NewAge’movement. However, it is also practiced by some animalhealers(e.g.physiotherapistsandenergyhealers)asawaytodiagnosetheanimal’scondition.The view presented in this paper locates within the emerging field of internaturalcommunicationwhichexplores interactionsamongandbetweenhumans,animalsandotherformsoflife(Plec2013).Thetheoretical-methodologicalapproachesutilisedinthisresearchsituatewithintheapproachesofposthumanismandethnography.Thegoalofthispaperisnottoprovethattelepathybetweenhumansandanimalsexists,butrather open up discussion on what people experience as telepathic communication withanimals. Inotherwords,what is the ethico-onto-epistemology (Barad2007)behindanimal

communication.Theresearchmaterial includes in-depthinterviewsandwrittenaccountsofFinnishpeoplewhohaveexperienceoftelepathywithanimals. I inquiredofthemhowtheycommunicatewiththeanimal.Howdotheyexplainthephenomenaoftelepathy?Whatmakesit possible for them to “read” animal minds or receive telepathic information from them?Whatistheirideaofthehumanandnon-humanmind?Keywords: animal communication, internatural communication, experience, telepathy,posthumanism,ethnography,ethico-onto-epistemologyReferencesBarad, Karen 2007.Meeting theuniversehalfway:Quantumphysicsand the entanglementofmatterandmeaning.DukeUniversityPress:London.Hurn, Samantha 2012. Humans and other animals. Cross-cultural perspectives on human-animalinteractions.PlutoPress:London.Ingold, Tim2000.Theperceptionof theenvironment.Essayson livelihood,dwellingandskill.Routledge:London.Nadasdy, Paul 2007. The Gift in the Animal: The Ontology of Hunting and Human-AnimalSociality.AmericanEthnologist34(1):25-43.Plec, Emily 2013. Perspectives on human-animal communication: An Introduction. InPerspectivesonhuman-animalcommunication.Internaturalcommunication.Ed.byEmilyPlec.Routledge:London,1-13.Viveiros de Castro, Eduardo 1998. Cosmological Deixis and Amerindian Perspectivism.TheJournaloftheRoyalAnthropologicalInstitute,Vol.4,No.3(Sep.,1998),pp.469-488.WORKSHOP6:UncannyLandscapesThis workshop explores the context of the uncanny as experienced through people’sembodiedengagementswithlandscape.Theunderstandingoflandscapeacrossthesocialandculturalscienceshasshiftedinrecentyears,awayfromthe‘objectifying’visionoflandscapeas representation,orasabaseuponwhichhumans liveandact. In itsplacehasemergedanew concernwith themateriality of landscape,with landscape as a context throughwhichpeople liveandmove,and landscapeasanagentoractant.Thisworkshoppicksupon thisconcern with landscape as ‘subject’ to raise questions about its capacity to generate theuncanny.Across times and landscapes, people have reported uncanny experiences within, and of,landscape. This panel asks, do landscapes have inherent qualities that we experience asuncannyor is thisuncanninessaproductofourperceptionof the landscape?Whatare thetheoreticalandmethodological implicationsof thisquestion?Further,aretheseexperiencesbroughtaboutbywhatwemightrecogniseasthelandscape’sinherent“wildness”,orthroughtheprocessofourdwellinginit?Thispanelaskswhetherwecanunderstandlandscapesascharacterisedbycertainenergies,memories,oraffects,whichareexperiencedasuncanny,aspeoplemovethroughthem.WhatarethelimitsofanapproachtolandscapethatpushesourresearchtowardsthatwhichAbram(1997)referredtoasa‘more-than-human’world?Theworkshoprevolvesaroundanumberofintersectingthemesintheexplorationofuncannylandscapes. Among these are questions of ontology and representation; questions ofmovement, travel and stasis; and questions ofmateriality and immateriality. Contributions

combine anthropological with artistic accounts of the uncanny, and examples come fromNorthernIndia,UK,andtheNordicregions.ReferencesAbram, David, 1997, The Spell of the Sensuous: perception and language in a More-Than-HumanWorld.Vintage.Convenors:JonP.MitchellUniversityofSussexJ.P.Mitchell@sussex.ac.ukKarisPettyUniversityofSussexK.Petty@sussex.ac.ukSESSIONONEGiftsfromtheHiddenPeople:SpiritsandtheunheimlichinthelandscapeofaZangskarivillageCallumPearceUniversityofAberdeenr02cp12@abdn.ac.uk“Thelandscapeopensontotheunknown.Itis,properlyspeaking,placeastheopeningontoatakingplaceoftheunknown.”(Nancy,TheGroundoftheImage)Anglophone discussions of landscape within Tibetan Buddhism have tended to focus on aputative ‘wild/tamed’dichotomythoughttopervadereligioussymbolismandrelationswithlocalnumina.ReadalongsideJean-LucNancy’sclaimthatEuropeanlandscapesonlyacquireasenseoftheuncannyduetotheabsenceof‘blessedspirits’followingthedeclineofpaganismand‘thedisappearanceofthegods’(2005:60),thismightleadustosuspectthattheagrarianlandscapesofZangskar–apredominantlyTibetanBuddhistregionoftheIndianHimalaya–will not be characterised by any sense of the uncanny, but rather by a clear demarcationbetweenspacesofcertaintyanddanger:thelandscapeasaknownarea,understoodthroughadefinedschemethatbanishesthreateningelementstothemargins.This,Iargue,wouldbeamistake.Workingfromdescriptionsofencounterswithlhande(spirits)andbeyulpa(hiddenpeople) around the Zangskari village of Karsha, related to me during a period of winterfieldwork in 2014, I will suggest that: 1) concepts of ‘wildness’ and the ‘wild/tamed’dichotomy are entirely absent from lay Buddhist discourse, and 2) the landscape ischaracterised by a sense of threatening otherness comparable to both Jentschian andFreudian concepts of the unheimlich. The landscape encompasses other houses and othervillages,andthesenseof theuncannythatpervades itatnight is linkedtoencounterswithalmost-human or semi-human beings. These spirits project an ambiguous familiarity and afundamental epistemological uncertainty: a basic otherness, revealed at night, that lurksbehindthesocialfaçadeofday.ThisisanessentialaspectoftheagrarianZangskarilandscape,as it comes to be known to those who live within it, and emerges from the limitations ofordinaryhumanperception.

Emotion,TheoryandTime:mutualinflectionsofthehumanandmore-than-humaninIndia's'lasttrulywildplace'AlexAisherUniversityofSussexa.aisher@sussex.ac.ukItiswidelyrecognisedamonganthropologiststhatfieldworkdoesnotendwhenyouleavethefield. Formany, theoretical interpretation of field experiences continues to evolve over theyears following fieldwork, in part through exposure to comparative data and diversetheoreticalframeworks.Thispaperexploresautoethnographically justsuchtransformationsoverthedecadefollowingtheauthor'sfirstfieldworkwiththeNyishi,ananimisttribeinthecloud forests of Arunachal Pradesh in India's extremeNortheast, recently described by theWWFas'oneofIndia’slasttrulywildplaces'.Thepapertracesthetransformationsovertimeof theauthor's theoreticalandemotionalunderstandingofNyishivillagers'oralaccountsoftheiruncanny,highly-charged,oftentraumatic,conflictswithpowerfulmaster-spiritslocallyconceived tounderpin the ecologicaldynamics andbiologicaldiversityof thedense forestssurroundinguplandvillages.Thepaperoffersareflexiveaccountofthetransformationsovertheyearsfollowingfieldworkoftheauthor'stheoreticalinterpretationofuncannymore-than-human encounters of tribal informants, and how such interpretive transformations wereinfluencedbytheauthor'sownpersonallifeexperiences,emotionalinvestmentsinthefield,dutytoinformants,andexposuretosuccessivewavesofanthropologicaltheory.Inshort,thepaper exploreshowemotion, theory and language are intertwined and coevolveover time.Thepapertracesamovementthroughthreedistinctstagesofethnographicinterpretationofuncannyphenomena.Thisbeginswithaninterpretativestanceduringandimmediatelyafterfieldwork that is closelyaligned,even identified,withvillagers'ownperceptionsofhuman-spiritconflictsandtheassociatedtrauma,sufferingandfearofspirit-revenge.Itthenoutlinesthe factors driving a later reductive historical interpretation of spirit-revenge as acosmological product of centuries of clan warfare in the uplands. This leads to a laterinterpretation, held in the present day, that is more closely aligned with a 'rational' -comparative, historical, systems based - view of such human-spirit conflicts. The paperculminates in reflections on the value of a new wave of multispecies scholarship fordevelopingamorenuancedunderstandingofbothuncannyphenomenaandtheworkedwild:an understanding grounded in thematerial agency of the landscape andmore-than-humanenergiesofanimals,plantsandholisticentitieslikeforests,mountainsandrivercatchments,andwhichbridgesthedividebetweentheotherness,alivenessandfertilityofthemore-than-humanworldanditsvitality,immediacyandsignificanceinhumanlife.HowLandscapesRememberJonMitchellUniversityofSussexJ.P.Mitchell@sussex.ac.ukThispaperconsidersthepossibilitythatlandscapesmighthavethepotentialtocontain,storeandtransmitmemoriesoftheirpasts,whichareengagedexperientiallyasuncanny.ItfocusesontheNeolithictemplesiteofBorg-in-Nadur,inSouthernMalta,whichaswellashavingbeenasiteofprehistoricritualactivity,hasmorerecentlybeenthesiteofasignificantdevotiontothe VirginMary, and a focus for national and transnational Goddess pilgrimage. The paper

examinestheintertwiningofprehistoric,CatholicandNeo-paganaccountsofBorg-in-Nadur,suggestingthatwemightadumbrateashareduncannythatisimmanentinitslandscape.Uncannyenchantment:materiality,magico-religionandtheMuseumofWitchcraftHelenCornishGoldsmithsCollege,UniversityofLondonh.cornish@gold.ac.ukVisitors to the Museum of Witchcraft (Cornwall, UK) commonly relate their uncannyexperiencesinthemuseum,anditseemstocharmthemostscepticalvisitor.Situatedatthefoot of the harbour, nestled down a steep and winding route, its place in the landscapeencourages readyconnections toesotericmatters.This sense is reinforcedbyanexpansivenetworkofsacredsitesthatareseentoweaveoutwardsfromthemuseum,inadditiontotheplethoraofoccult,folkloricandmagicalobjectsdisplayedinside.ThispaperwillfocusontheexperiencesofvisitorswhoexplicitlyidentifyasmodernWitchesor Pagans. Through a focus on an inherent animism imagined throughgenius loci (spirit ofplace), these visitors situate their experiences within an understanding of environment,landscapeandmaterialitythatisliveandactive:places,sitesandthingsliterallyhaveagency.Incontrasttoexplanationsofmagico-religionasatranscendentalorspiritualconcept,theseaccountsdemonstratetheextenttowhichtheuncanny,asapractice,isexperiencedthroughmateriality.SESSIONTWOPerception, theenvironmentand theuncanny:Sensing thewoodlandswithapsychicmediumwhohasimpairedvisionKarisPettyUniversityofSussexK.Petty@sussex.ac.ukThispaperpresentsethnographyexploringthesensuousperceptionofEnglishwoodlandsforapsychicmediumnamedAmanda,whohascongenitally impairedvision.Thiscasestudy ispartofanethnographyinvestigatingthesensoryperceptionandexperienceofthewoodlandsforwalkerswhohaveimpairedvision, intheSouthDowns,England(2012-2014). IproposethattheuncannyexperiencesAmandadescribedasapsychicmediumandthatIexperiencedin her company provides opportunities to reflect on anthropological conceptions of theenvironment,andthemethodological,analyticandtheoreticaltoolsavailableforinvestigatinguncanny experiences in natural environments.Walks through thewoodlandswithAmandawere characterised by uncanny experiences. I recount some of these uncanny experiences,describingherembodiedandsensuousengagementwiththewoodlandsasapsychicmedium.I propose that these accounts of uncanny experiences within and of the environmentcontributestotheoretical(andthereforebothmethodologicalandanalytic)reformulationsofthe environment beyond that of an objective backdrop to human activities and extends towhat Abram referred to as a ‘more-than-human-world’. This ethnography describes anenvironment sedimentedwith feeling tones of past activities that are sensed as “energies”,with which one can interact and alter. Thus, the environment is identified as processual,imbued “energetically” with, and altered by, human activities. Yet, there is also a sense of

agency or subjectivity of the environment, which Amanda recognised as changes in theweather, and the feel, sounds and motions of the environment. Suggesting that theenvironment embodies these “energies” with some kind of agency. I consider howanthropological approaches to the environment have principally been concerned with thehumanperceiverandtheenvironmentasaffordingperceptualexperience(followingGibson1979), identifying the human-centric dynamic implicit in this. Reflecting on theanthropologicalopportunitiesandlimitationsforinvestigatingtheenvironmentanduncannyexperiences, I open questions for ways forth. This paper is situated in a sensuousanthropology of the environment and explores sensory perception through embodiedmethodologiesofapprenticeship.Auto-ban:theHitch-hiker’sGuidetotheUncannyPatrickLavioletteTallinnUniversitypatrickl@tlu.eeThere's something both utopian and uncanny about hitch-hiking. And yet this alternativemethodoftravel isdead,orsomanypeoplesay.Onceaubiquitousphenomenonofmodernsocieties the world over, hitch-hiking in its more 'pure' form of expression is now largelyregarded as extinct, at least in the western world. This paper examines this truismcomparatively, inthecontextofWesternversusEasternEurope,consideringboththesocialpracticeofhitch-hikingand its literary representation. It shall compare the 'public'waitinggameofluringacarasahitch-hikerwiththehidden'private'momentsofbeingconfinedasan unwitting passenger. Recently, I have argued that this mode of transport is a validethnographic methodology as well as a powerful conceptual metaphor of dissent andsubversionwithinthecontemporaryworldoftravelnarratives(Laviolette,2014Ethnos).Thepresentation draws together my personal experience of this activity with hermeneuticalreadings of the auto-stop phenomenon as it occurs in the genre of travel writing and the'mobilities turn' literature since hitch-hiking has inspired and been inspired by entireliterary/artisticmovements.Inparticular,theideaistoexaminehowtheBritishlandscape’sappearancehasbeen'uncannified'bythedisappearanceoftheeccentricfigureofthedriftinghitch-hiker.WanderlustAsRitual:Wonder,Walking,&theRiseof theSoloFemaleContemporaryArtistVagabondBillimarieLubianoRobinsonbillimarie.lubiano.robinson@gmail.comThispresentation consists of empirical case studieswhich examine solowanderingwomenutilizingwalking itself as a contemporary arts expression. It seeks to expose patterns in avariety of performances to show how the act of walking, the role of wonder, and themysticism of a landscape are inexplicably linked in such an unexamined artform. Topicsinclude wild inspiration, art as force/motion and motion as response, and the naturalenvironment(withaspecialemphasisonforestlandscapes)asaconduitforcreation.Whilewehaveseentheactofwalkinginthepastasameansofthoughtlesstransportation,aspoliticalprotest,asphilosophicalinquiry,associetalrebellion,asleisure...whathasnotbeen

examined is the act of walking aimlessly, otherwise known as wandering, as an artisticexpressioninandofitself.Thisproposalseekstoexaminetherolethatwonderplaysinthesolofemalecontemporaryvagabondartist’swork:wanderingasanartisticpractice,theroleofwonderinart(specificallywanderingart),natureasanartsource(experiencedthroughafeminine gaze), and how natural landscapes--specifically forests--can inspire artists andinformart.TheWanderingMind:AfilmicinvestigationoftheuncannyandthewalkingbodySusannahGentSheffieldHallamUniversitySusannah.Gent@shu.ac.ukSusannah Gent, experimental filmmaker and interdisciplinary researcher of consciousness,employswalkingasastrategytoexploretheuncannynatureofthesubjectiveexperience.Herfilmsinvestigatewaysofrepresentingwalkingasanactofsynthesisofmindandbody.Usingthecameraasasubstitutefortheeye,Gentconsiderstheproblemofrecordingthemovementofthebodythroughanenvironment,followingamapofthelandscapewhilstsimultaneouslycreatinganeuralmapoftheexperience.This paper contributes to a contemporary, interdisciplinary dialogue on the uncanny bydrawingon theFreudianunconsciousandHeidegger'sDasein, alongside therecentworkofneuroscientistAntonioDamasio.Damasioproposesathreetieredconstructofself;theproto-,core-, and autobiographical self, with the proto-self being the nonconscious forerunner toconsciousness,andpresentinallorganismswithbrains.The paper explores this evolutionary view as a potential expansion of psychoanalytic andphilosophicalnotionsofselfhood,withthehaphazardnatureofmentalevolutionproducingperceptual contradictions between thinking and being. With selfhood viewed as anevolutionary latecomer, the automaticity which underpins Dasein and the psychoanalyticunconsciouscanbeseenasamodeofunitybetweenanorganismanditsenvironment.Thisunity offers a potential new position from which panpsychism can be viewed and placesconsciousnessinthepositionofaneeriebystander.Gent's filmic sketches are produced using a combination of structuralist and surrealistapproaches; small cameras strapped to the body, combined with stream of consciousnessmonologuewhichattempttorendervisiblesomethingofthesubjectiveexperience.Althoughimperfect,theserepresentationscreateastartingpointthroughthepresentationofanexternalobject.Inthiswaythefilmactsasanintermediateintheintersubjectivedialogueofhumanconsciousness.IrvingMassey suggests that ‘metaphors are incubators for ideas’, (Massey2009)proposingthatthevisuallanguageofmetaphorandthedreamarepre-linguisticinevolutionaryterms.Therelationshipbetweenartandthepsychoanalyticunconsciousiswellestablished,withanintention of accessing and exploring dimensions of thought which underpin consciouscognition.Inthiswayartpracticeactsasaformofresearchwithuniqueandindividualisticmethods,andwalking,whichpromotesautomaticityandreflectionisanidealactivitythroughwhichtoundertakethisapproachtoresearch.

SESSIONTHREEUncannyLandscapesPattiLeanUniversityofCumbriapatti.lean@cumbria.ac.ukMy research examines and uses paint and painting as material expression for the kind ofsensuousandsensatereciprocitywithenvironmentdiscussedbywriterssuchasAbram.Myfocusisonparticularviewsofnortherliness,anddrawsonexperienceinScotlandandIceland.Mypaperwillexploreuncanninessattwomountainlocations,SnæfellsjökullandÓlafsfjörður,in north-west Iceland. It will begin by drawing on uncanniness in literary sources:SnæfellsjökullisthesettingforHalldórLaxness’s1972novel,UndertheGlacier,whichtellsofa naïve Christian emissary dispatched to investigate phantasms, shape-shifters and paganrituals in a remote parish at the foot of the glacier. Ólafsfjörður is where I explored themountains and read Laxness’s Independent People (1935), a novel that centres round amalevolent presence in the mountain, one that cuts through all attempts to embracemodernity,politicsandprogressin…sheep-farmingmethods.Iwillalsorefertotheepisodicstyle and subject-matter of Laxness’s source, the Icelandic sagas, the settlement narrativesthatcontinuetoinformandidentifycontemporaryIcelandicculture.The paper will go on to discuss the triggering of the uncanny in what Abram terms, ‘anexpressive,gesturinglandscape,inaworldthatspeaks’.HereIwilldrawonmyownresearchand experience ofwalking, eating and sleeping forweeks on end, in a terrain seems to beconstantlyshifting,moving,creaking,echoingandgenerallyconfoundingnormalperception.The language of natural science has names and explanations for many phenomena Iexperienced: the Bergie Selzer, glacial erratics, the Brockenspectre, the aurora borealis,noctilucence. And yet, experience of place, as affect, can lead to ‘feyness’: as Nan Shepherd(1977)putsit,‘myfearunmansme,horrorisinmymouth.’Thirdly, working with the premise that painting embodies a feeling not a process, nor isnecessarilyarepresentationoflandscapeinthesenseof‘window-to-the-world’,Iwilladdressthecategoryoftheuncannyinpainting,incontextsofnon-verbalandpre-verbalexperienceofspecificenvironments.Thepresentationwillbeillustratedwithexamplesofworksofvisualart.TheUncannyLandscapeintheCinematicSpaceGenevieveLutkinRoyalCollegeofArtgenevievelutkinstudio@gmail.comFreudwritesthattheuncannyis ‘aspecialcoreoffeelingthatclassofthefrighteningwhichleadsbacktowhatisknownofoldandlongfamiliar’–itisadoubleselfthatisalwayshiddenwithin. The cinematic image is inherently rooted in the uncanny, being itself an uncannydoublingoftheworld. JoannaLowryillustratesthedualismofthecameraandtheuncanny,describing the alteringof one’sperceptionof event via thephotographicpreservationof it,‘severedfromtheagencyofourdesireandreturningtousafamiliarisedrealitythatwecanrecognisebutcanneveractuallysee…’(Lowry,TheatresoftheReal,2009).

Illusion, deception, trickery and distancing via the camera lens occurs through multiplecinematicdevices,producedultimatelybycontrollingourexperienceoflooking;thedirectedviewof thecameraangle,howmuch lightshallenter into thesceneandhowthepropsareplacedwithintheset.Theviewer is invitedtomakethe imaginative leap intothecinematicconstruction,andfurther, intotheconceptionsburiedbelowtheirawareness.Howdoestheuncannylandscapeappearwithinthiscinematicmiseenscene?Artificially constructed as the set or evoked through an atmospheric soundtrack?Andhowdoesthecamera/viewertravel throughthisstrangeterrain?WithintheworkshopIwishtoexploretheseideasthrough3pointsofenquiry:

- TheUnheimlich- Mirroredworld- WillingSuspensions

Ipropose toexpanduponthese inrelation toaselectionofcasestudy films,examining thelandscapeinbothasbothamaterialandpsychologicalspace.WORKSHOP7:TheLimitsofReasonThis workshop is inspired by two apparently opposed characteristics of modern societiesglobally:Ontheonehand,thescopeofestablished,scientificreasonandbureaucraticefficacyseems to be expanding. On the other hand, there is a continued, perhaps even a growing,interest in spiritual, supernatural, occult,magic and extraordinary phenomena, not only inpopular culturebut alsowithinestablished institutions suchas religion,medicine,businessandscience,remindingus that itdoesnotseemtobepossible toaccount inpurelyrationaltermsforeverythinginhumanlivesoreveninnature.Wecallforabstractsthatdealwiththisfieldonthelimitsofreason.Whenisaphenomenonoranexperienceonthelimitofreason?Whatdopeopledowhentheymeetthislimit?Howdotheytrytoestablishreason?Itmightbeclairvoyance,ghosts,spirits,werewolvesortrollsthatthepapersdealwith,butalsopapersaboutthelimitsofscientific,bureaucratic,ormedicalreasonarewelcomed.Convenors:VibekeSteffenUniversityofCopenhagen,DepartmentofAnthropologyvibeke.steffen@anthro.ku.dkKirstenMarieRaahaugeTheRoyalDanishAcademyofFineArts,TheSchoolsofArchitectureandDesignkmr@kadk.dkSpiritualityandbusinessinthelivesofwomenchannellersKatriinaHulkkonenUniversityofTurku,ComparativeReligionkatriina.e.hulkkonen@utu.fiThispaperisconcernedwiththerelationshipbetweenentrepreneurshipandspirituality.Itisanethnographical enquiry into ‘the limitsof reason’of the ‘channelingbusiness’within theNewAge spirituality in today’s Finland.Typically, channeling refers to an ability to receiveand transmitmessages from higher or other levels of being. The purpose of channeling is

mainlytohelptheclientortheaudiencebygivingthemadviceandsupportregardingtheirpersonalproblems.InNewAgespirituality,theboundariesbetweenculture,religionandeconomiclifearebeingblurred.Twoconceptshavebeendevelopedtodescribetheintertwiningofthesefields.Theterm ‘cultural entrepreneurship’ isused to refer to individualswhogenerate income in therealmofculturalproductionforexample,inthefieldsofentertainment,tourismandreligion(Röschenthaler& Schulz2016). ‘Spiritual entrepreneurship’, on theotherhand, denotes anentrepreneurwho connects her spiritual calling or a life projectwith business (Fonneland2012). The market of channeling in Finland contains mainly small-scale enterprises andentrepreneurs who offer channeling as one of their services/products. In addition, somewomen do channelling without a trade name or any established commercial enterprise oftheir own along with other jobs or when they are retired. In these markets the value ofchannellingisnotpurelyeconomic.In this paper I shall examine how the women channellers, who are also entrepreneurs,understandtherelationshipbetweenentrepreneurshipandspirituality. Inparticular, Ishallconcentrate on how they combine these apparently contradictory aspects in their livesespecially when they are starting their business. How do the logics of business andchannellingononehand restrict eachotherandon theotherhandenable somethingnew?Andwhatkindofproblemsdoarise?Keywords:channeling,NewAgespirituality,entrepreneurship,businessParodising contemporary vernacular belief: the questions of conflict, interpretationandsymbiosisReetHiiemäeEstonianLiteraryMuseumreet@folklore.eeMy paper analyses the materials of some Estonian web portals that are specialised inparodising various contemporary esoteric beliefs, spiritual teachings, supernaturalexperiencesandconspiracytheories,butalsootherwaysofjokingaboutcontemporarybelief.The aim ofmy paper is trying to position such humorous phenomena on the landscape ofcontemporary belief. Such internet portals and other ways of joking about contemporarybelief presuppose a rather good orienting in and knowledge of modern belief forms,respectiveterminologyandmodesofexpression,thustheyshouldbeviewedintheframesofamoregeneralbeliefdiscourse.Theparodisingmaterialisoftensoclosetothematerialsofseriously-meant topical websites, books and forum posts that readers often express theirdoubtifitisactuallyhumorornot.Thethrillthatgoestogetherwithsuchbalancingbetweenbelievabilityandnon-believabilityseemstobeoneofthereasonswhysuchjokesaremade.However, the position of the jokers themselves is not as self-evident as it may seem. It isnoteworthythatseveralpeoplewhopostsuchmaterialstoldmeinprivateconversationsthattheyactuallydon’texcludethepossibilitythatspiritualrealmsexist,onthecontrary,someofthem have passed courses in spiritual teachings or tried esoteric practices independently,they have been fascinated in books about mysterious phenomena or experienced suchphenomenathemselves.InmypaperIwilldiscusstheaimsandfunctionsofsuchhumorousmaterial,forexamplethequestionsofconflict,interpretationandsymbiosis.

Keywords:contemporarybelief,spirituality,humor,parody,theunexplainableVernacularStrategiesandTheoriesofDealingwithGhostsinContemporaryEstoniaÜloValkUniversityofTartuulo.valk@ut.eeOn theonehandghostsandhauntingsbelong to theworldof traditionalnarratives,on theotherhandtoextraordinaryphenomenathatcontradictourusualperceptionoftheworldintheir striking otherness. Such experiences become meaningful in religious ontologies butbecome problematic in the secular world of materialism and (quasi)scientific rationalism,whichcannotaccommodatethem.Ghoststendtobediscursivelycontrolledbyfictionalisingthemasmanifestationsofartisticfantasies,byde-essentialisingthemasillusionsproducedbysubjectiveexperiences,orbypathologisingthemassymptomsofmentalillness.Incontrasttothese authoritarian perspectives, vernacular theories and strategies of dealing with thesupernatural offer a flexible array of discursive contexts and practical devices. The paperdiscussesghostlyexperiencesinEstonia–inasecularsocietythathasbeentraumatisedbyaviolent history and fifty years of state imposed atheism as a part of communist education.Narratives about ghosts and hauntings often include information about effectivemeans ofrepellingorpacifyingthesupernatural,rangingfromLutheranhouseblessingsandtraditionalcustomsofburningjuniperbranches,tomoreexperimentalandinnovativepractices,suchasapplyingrunicsignsorswitchingonelectronicequipmenttogenerateelectromagneticwaves.Theontologicalliminalityofghostsatthemarginsofarationalworldviewcannotbehandledwith a unified set of interpretations and controlling methods, but rather it provokes aversatile and disorganised set of responses. The messy set of beliefs and practices at themargins of the rational worldview also marks the limits of rationalism, which cannotaccommodatehumanlivesandthetotalityoftheirexperiences.WORKSHOP8:Discernment:RecognisingthePresenceofSpiritsDiscernment is a key skill in many traditions concerned with non-physical, non-ordinarybeings, whether in the context of shamanism, spirit possession and mediumship, or spiritrelease therapies and ghost hunting in contemporary post-industrial societies. How dopractitionersknowthatspiritsarepresent?Howdopractitionersdistinguishbetweenwhatthey perceive to be an external, ontological other and the ‘normal’ self?Whatmethods areemployed to make this distinction? Inherent in such questions are issues relating to thenature of personhood and consciousness –what exactly constitutes a ‘person,’ andwhat is‘consciousness’? This workshop will explore the theme of discernment from a range ofdifferentculturalcontexts,andwilldiscussthe implicationsof traditionsofdiscernment forwiderquestionsaboutthenatureofconsciousnessandself.Convenors:FionaBowieKing’sCollegeLondon,Dept.Theology&ReligiousStudiesfiona.bowie@kcl.ac.uk

JackHunterUniverstityofBristol,Dept.Archaeology&Anthropologyjh5895@bristol.ac.ukSESSIONONEChair:EmilyPieriniUniversityofWalesTrinitySaintDavid/AmericanUniversityofRomeemily.pierini@gmail.comWhatdiscernmenttraditionsmighttellusaboutthenatureofconsciousnessJackHunterUniversityofBristol,Dept.Archaeology&Anthropologyjh5895@bristol.ac.ukDrawingonethnographicfieldworkwithspiritualisttranceandphysicalmediumsinBristol,UK,aswellasonthewidercross-culturalandethnographicliteratureonspiritpossessionandmediumship, this paper will explore the ways in which mediumistic experiences lead toexpandedconceptionsofthenatureoftheself,andwillexplorethepotentialcontributionoftaking extraordinary experiences seriously in the context of the personhood debate. Thispaperwillanalysecorefeaturesofmediumisticdiscernmenttraditions,focussingspecificallyonexperience(i.e.howisthepresenceofspiritsdetermined,experiencedanddistinguishedfrom‘normal’consciousness),andwillaskwhatthesetechniquesofdiscernmentmightrevealabouttheworkingsofconsciousnessandthenatureoftheSelf.Inparticularitwillbearguedthatanawarenessofextraordinaryexperiencesinpost-industrialsocietiesrevealssurprisingvariationsinconceptualisationsoftheself,includingthepresencewithin'Western'culturesofself-concepts that have historically been classified as 'non-Western,' or 'dividual.' What isparticularly interesting about these expanded notions of the self is that they seem tocontradict the standard models of mind and self implied by the dominant paradigms ofmaterialistscience.Keywords:consciousness,discernment,experience,personhood,spirits,tranceSpiritReleaseasTherapy:AnAlternativeWesternTraditionFionaBowieVisitingSeniorResearchFellow,King’sCollegeLondonfiona.bowie@kcl.ac.ukExorcismhasbeenpracticedandisstillpracticedinWesternChristianChurches,butthereisaparalleltraditionofspiritreleasetherapy,oftengrowingoutofconventionalpsychiatricandpsychologicalpractices.Theassumptionisthatsomeformsofphysicalandmentalillnessordisturbancearecausedbychangesinthepatient’senergyfieldthatallowforeignentitiestoattachthemselves.Theseenergeticattachmentscan takemany formsandoneof the tasksof thespirit releasepractitioneristodiscernthetypeofentitythatmightbetroublingthepatient.Atoneendofthespectrumtheremightbesub-personalitiesthathavebecomesplitoffintimesoftrauma,butwhicharepartofthesameindividualandcanbereintegrated.Attheotherextremeare

darkforceentitiesthatintendtocauseharmandmisery.Inbetweenarelostorearthboundspirits,thoughtformsandemotionaltiesemanatingfromboththelivingandthedead.Someattachments may involve non-human beings from other realms or members of the devickingdoms(elves,fairiesandsoon).While the cosmology of spirit releasemight seem a strangemixture of European folklore,Jungianpsychology,sciencefictionandWesternesotericism,itisalsofairlyconsistentamongpractitioners. As publications and practices continue to develop spirit release is gaining inpopularityandvisibility,presentinganalternativetothemoreestablishedchurchpracticesofexorcism.This paper will give an overview of some of these trends and attempt to map the mainfeaturesofcontemporaryWesternspiritrelease.Keywords:spiritrelease,exorcism,spiritattachment,therapy,possessionSpiritReleaseTherapyandtheArtofDiscernmentTerencePalmerIndependentresearcherpalmert55@gmail.comSpirit ReleaseTherapy (SRT) has been used by pioneering clinicians and acknowledged bysome researchers inpsychology since the19thCentury, although thenameSRT is a recentlabel that was originally introduced as Spirit Releasement Therapy byWilliam Baldwin in1995.SRT, as a clinical method of removing troublesome spirits,is more able to discern thedifference between the spirits of the deceased who remain earthbound and the moredamaging non-human demonic, otherwise known as Dark Force Entities (DFE) that aretraditionally‘exorcised’bytheRomanCatholicChurch.TotheSRTpractitioner,thetermdiscernmentnotonlyreferstotheartandskillindiscerningwhetherornotspiritsarepresent,butmoreimportantlythediscernmentbetweendifferenttypes of spirit,which is important in determiningwhatmethod is used to aid the spirit inmovingonorbeingcapturedandescortedawaytoanotherrealmofexistence.Thispresentationdemonstrates,withtheaidofavideorecordingoftheprocess,themethodof discernment and removal of discarnate negative entities by an SRT adept at work.Followingthepresentation,participantsoftheworkshopwillbeabletodiscussthemethodofdiscernmentappliedinthisparticularcase.Keywords: spirit release therapy, clinical spirit release, clinical discernment, psychiatry,possession

SESSIONTWOChair:FionaBowieVisitingSeniorResearchFellow,King’sCollegeLondonfiona.bowie@kcl.ac.ukDiscerning Spirits, Defining Selves: Learning Semi-conscious Trance in the Vale doAmanhecerEmilyPieriniUniversityofWalesTrinitySaintDavid/AmericanUniversityofRomeemily.pierini@gmail.comThis paper explores the process of mediumistic development in the Brazilian SpiritualistChristianOrderValedoAmanhecer(ValleyoftheDawn)drawingonethnographicresearchintemples in Brazil and Europe. This process is described by mediums as being culturallyshapedaccordingtothepurposesforwhichitisused.SincemediumisticpracticeintheValedo Amanhecer is aimed at releasing discarnate spirits obsessing humans – that isdissobsessive healing – these spirits need to be discerned from themedium and the spiritguides,andcontrolledduringasemi-conscioustrance.Control and discernment are skills to be learned; and emotions, feelings and bodilyexperience play a pivotal role in this process. In illustrating the different modes ofdiscernment as culturally informed, the discussion addresses specific notions of the self asproduced through the bodily and affective dimensions of this process, and how theseembodiednotions,inturn,informtherapeuticexperiences.Keywords: Vale do Amanhecer, mediumship, trance, learning, discernment, self, body,emotion,BrazilMoralcorporalities:Non-humanothers,perspectivismandChristianityinAmazoniaMinnaOpasUniversityofTurkuminna.opas@utu.fiIt has by now become commonplace to understand human to non-human relations amongindigenous groups especially in Amazonia, but also beyond, to be characterised by somevarietyoftheperspectivallogicinwhichasubjectsperspectiveisafeatureofthebodyratherthanthatofmind,andwhererelationshipsprecedeform.AccordingtoEduardoViveirosdeCastro’s seminalwork, inhuman-non-humanencounters inperspectival cosmosesahumanbeingmaybelefttooccupythesecondpersonposition–you–inarelationtoanon-humanoccupying the firstpersonsubjectposition– I. In sucha case, thebodilyperspectiveof thenon-humanbecomesdominantintherelationshipandsubsequently,thehumanpersondriftsawayfromhisorherhumancondition.Itislargelyinthemoralsphere,asimmoralbehaviour,that the presence of non-humans and their influences on humans can be detected. In thispaper,however,Iwishtoexplorethequestionofdiscerningthepresenceofthenon-humanothersamongChristiansinindigenousAmazonia.Howisthepresenceandinfluencesofthenon-humanothersofChristianity,especiallyGodandtheHolySpiritbutalsoSatan,discernedamongtheindigenousYinepeoplelivinginthePeruvianAmazonia?TowhatextentdoestheYineperspectivallogiccharacterisetheserelations?OrdoesChristianityprovidenovelways

ofgainingknowledgeofnon-humanpresence?Relatingthecasetorecentdiscussionsinthefield of Anthropology of Christianity, the paper suggests thatwhile the discerning in thesecases still takes place largely on the basis ofmorality, the relationships to Christian othersdifferfromtherelationstoothernon-humansintheYinesocialcosmosespeciallyinregardtotheemphasisplacedontheclosedbodyandinnersubjectivityinsteadofopenconsubstantialpersonhood.Keywords: Amazonia, indigenous people, Yine, non-humans, Christianity, perspectivism,corporealityDrinkingblood,dancingonswords:Whatadeitycando,andahumancannotIreneMajoGariglianoCNRS,CentreforHimalayanStudiesirenemajogarigliano@gmail.comFortheGhoras(possessed-dancers)oftheKāmākhyātemplecomplex(India)thereisnothingstrangethatGoddessKāmākhyāpossessesahuman.FordevoteestoopossessionbyGoddessKāmākhyā and the other deities of the temple complex is not surprising. The problem is,rather,todiscerngenuinepossession.Every year in August the Ghoras become possessed by Goddess Kāmākhyā and the otherdeities of the temple complex. For three days they dance to the beat of drums. During thedancedevoteesworship theGhorasandbeg for theirblessing.When thedance isover, theGhorasgobacktotheireverydaylife.Whenamanfirstclaimstobepossessedbyoneofthedeitiesofthetemplecomplex,heisnotallowedtodanceunlesselderGhorasconsent.ThenewlyacknowledgedGhoraaswellastheseniorsonesareexpectedtodrinkthebloodfromtheheadofgoats, immediatelyaftertheyhavebeensacrificed,andtodanceonswordsbeforethethousandsofdevoteesgatheringforthefestival.AccordingtoboththeGhorasandthedevotees,ifaGhoraisunabletodrinkthisbloodorifhisfeetgetcutontheswords,itmeansthatheisnotreallypossessedbyanydeity.Ghorasexpresstheirconcernthereuponand,duringthemonthprecedingthedance,observeasetofrestrictionsinordertomaketheirbodiesfittobefullypossessedbythedeities.According toGhoras, theycannotdecidewhether todanceornot.Thedance,displayof theGoddess’awesomepower,dependsuponHerinscrutable,capriciouswill;itisHerlīlā(play).Thedeitypresenceinthehumanbodyissubjecttounpredictableupsanddowns.Justbeforedancingonswords,GhorasrushtotheGoddess’altar,whichisbelievedto“charge”themwithdivine power. Based on extensive fieldwork, the present paper explores the ambiguousfeelingsthattheGhorasexpressinthedelicatephaseprecedingthedance.HowdotheGhorasperceive thedeities’overwhelming intervention in their lives?Howdotheyprepare for thetemporaryobliterationoftheirselves?ScenesofmydocumentaryfilmGhora:WaitingfortheGoddess(2014)willbescreenedtoshowthemostsignificantmomentsofthedance.Thepan-Indianconceptofśakti(divinefemininecreative/destructivepower)willbeevoked,withreferencetotheKāmākhyātemplecomplex,oneamongthemostcelebratedsiteforśakticultinSouthAsia.

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