Spirits, Gods and Magic

Jack Hunter is a leading figure in the anthropology of the paranormal and supernatural, and he provides here an accessible introduction to the field. The discipline of anthropology goes back to the late 19^th century with the notable figures of Sir James Fraser, Sir Edward Tylor, Andrew Lang and Bronislaw Malinowski. The first three were armchair theorists, taking for granted the absolute validity of the Western rational viewpoint within an overall evolutionary framework. All of this has been questioned since that time, and the author describes the transformation of fieldwork methodology towards an 'ontological turn' that takes different worlds seriously rather than treating them as cultures and beliefs. The term supernatural also has a western origin and has become pejorative within our scientific culture.

I found the overall treatment even-handed and highly informative, with some illuminating theoretical approaches, including Stephen Braude's experimental, semi-experimental and anecdotal categorisation of evidence. The semi-experimental category is extremely useful in insisting that widespread patterns of experience should inform serious theorising. Other chapters describe psychological and cognitive theories, sociological theories, and phenomenological theories relating to various forms of experience. Terminology and types of experience are carefully defined, and the importance of cultural context is also highlighted. There is a good chapter on shamanism and spirit possession, which notes the difference between monophasic and polyphasic cultures with respect to states of consciousness – modern academia is solidly monophasic and defends a reductionist perspective, often without examining the evidence. As mentioned above, immersive ethnographic fieldwork is an important development towards participation and beyond pseudo-objectivity. The sooner we share the author's view that psi is an intrinsic feature of consciousness, the more we can open up the field into the mainstream.