The Trickster and the Paranormal

The Trickster and the Paranormal

by George P. Hansen
The Trickster and the Paranormal

The Trickster and the Paranormal

by George P. Hansen

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Overview

Paranormal and supernatural events have been reported for millennia.  They have fostered history’s most important cultural transformations (e.g., via the miracles of Moses, Jesus, Mohammed).  Paranormal phenomena are frequently portrayed in the world’s greatest art and literature, as well as in popular TV shows and movies.  Most adults in the U.S. believe in them.  Yet they have a marginal place in modern culture.  No university departments are devoted to studying psychic phenomena.  In fact, a panoply of scientists now aggressively denounces them.

These facts present a deeply puzzling situation.  But they become coherent after pondering the trickster figure, an archaic being found worldwide in mythology and folklore.  The trickster governs paradox and the irrational, but his messages are concealed.  This book draws upon theories of the trickster from anthropology, folklore, sociology, semiotics, and literary criticism.  It examines psychic phenomena and UFOs and explains why they are so problematical for science.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781462812899
Publisher: Xlibris US
Publication date: 08/20/2001
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 564
Sales rank: 638,111
File size: 928 KB

About the Author

George P. Hansen was employed in parapsychology laboratories for eight years—three at the Rhine Research Center in Durham, North Carolina, and five at Psychophysical Research Laboratories in Princeton, New Jersey. His research included remote viewing, psychokinesis on electronic random number generators, séance phenomena, and ghosts. His papers in professional journals also cover mathematical statistics, deception, skepticism, conjurors in parapsychology, and methodological criticisms. He is a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements11
Preface14
1.Introduction19
Part 1
Overview33
2.An Overview of Tricksters From Mythology, Folklore, and Elsewhere35
3.Ernest Hartmann's Mental Boundaries48
4.Victor Turner's Concept of Anti-structure52
Part 2
Overview73
5.Mysticism, Holy Madness, and Fools for God75
6.Shamanism and Its Sham86
Part 3
Overview95
7.Michael Winkelman on Magico-religious Practitioners97
8.Max Weber, Charisma, and the Disenchantment of the World102
9.Cultural Change and the Paranormal110
Part 4
Overview117
10.Prominent "Psychics"119
11.Conjurors and the Paranormal130
12.CSICOP and the Debunkers148
13.Small Groups and the Paranormal162
14.Alternative Religions and Psi171
15.Institutions and the Paranormal178
16.Anti-structure and the History of Psychical Research191
17.Unbounded Conditions210
18.Government Disinformation219
19.Hoaxes and the Paranormal247
Part 5
Overview273
20.Reflexivity and the Trickster277
21.Laboratory Research on Psi309
22.Totemism and the Primitive Mind344
23.Literary Criticism, Meaning, and the Trickster368
Part 6
Overview393
24.The Imagination395
25.Paranoia413
26.Conclusions422
Endnotes433
References481
Index535
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