Literal Ghosts: African Narratives and Religious Experience as Tools for a Critical Expansion of the ‘Spectral Turn’
by Dr. Stefanie Burkhardt (CAS-E)
Ghosts, specters, and revenants are crucial concepts in theories of cultural philosophy in the so-called “spectral turn.” Such entities have ceaselessly become key tropes for enabling a thinking of the Other in the sense of that which has been repressed by European Enlightenment thinking. While I recognize the creative power of the “spectral turn,” I see two major weaknesses that actually reproduce the fundamental critique such theories make of the displacement of the Other. First, they ignore non-European concepts of the undead and thus remain Eurocentric and universalizing. Second, even those cultural philosophies that transcend the European framework are inherently limited, viewing such haunting phenomena as allegorical rather than empirically reflective of recurrent experiences of people worldwide. My research aims to critically expand the scope of the “spectral turn” by drawing on African and African-diasporic narratives, stories, and concepts surrounding ancestor spirits, the abiku/ogbanje (‘spirit child’), and the zombie. While the modern Euro-American ghost story typically revolves around fear, unfinished business, and ontological doubt in light of natural laws, stories anchored in West African ontologies and lived experiences take on alternative forms and meanings, offering tools for decolonizing the “spectral turn.” In this lecture, I focus on traditional and fictional narratives about the ‘spirit child’ that address issues of trauma, exile, family relations, and gender identities. Drawing on philosophical, ethnographic, and literary material, I aim to explore ways to expand theoretical conceptions of spectral phenomena in Western culture in general and in Western esotericism in particular.
Link for virtual attendance: https://fau.zoom.us/j/63672581746
