The Psychic Self

I gave a presentation called The Psychic Self at the Exploring the Extraordinary 7 Conference in York.  I wanted to examine what tools there might be in the anthropological toolkit when we look at notions of the self as an unbounded, connected energy field rather than a discrete, isolated individual body. I use contemporary witchcraft and spirit possession and spirit release in Western societies as ethnographic examples of this extended psychic self. It is all very well, as proponents of the 'ontological turn' in anthropology propose, to treat our research subjects with respect, be open to their world view and allow their realities to unsettle our own (in unspecified ways) when the research subjects are on the other side of the world. When they are in fact fellow Western educated, post-Enlightenment, friends and neighbours, maintaining that opens and respect seems to be more challenging. Using Jeanne Favre-Saada's work on witchcraft in Normandy and my own research on spirit release practitioners, I suggest some ways of approaching the material. These include incorporating elements of critical realism (Grabber), the experiential core hypothesis (Hufford) and cognitive empathetic engagement (Bowie). The text of the talk, in case it does not reproduce with the slides, is also included. The slides, text and conference report are also available on  Scribd via my Academia.edu sight.