![]() ![]() Krippner, Saybrook University, CHOICE Beth Robertson’s engaging study not only takes the classic Victorian story of psychical research into the transnational twentieth century but also makes a forceful case for grounding its inquiries in the gendered bodies of researchers and mediums alike. Matthew Hayes, The Frost Centre for Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies, Trent University, American Review of Canadian Studies In this provocative book, Robertson contends that the study of mediumship impacted both empirical methods and gender studies … A major contribution of this work is its description of how women, both as participants and researchers, debunked the stereotype that had linked femininity with ‘intellectual ineptitude.’ Robertson’s work can serve as a model for further inquiries on the contributions psychical research can make to scholarship, methodology, and philosophy. It draws together a number of seemingly disparate threads into a concise framework that, for me, transformed how I thought about paranormal research. It takes its subject matter seriously (which shouldn’t be underestimated), and makes far-reaching conclusions that cross disciplinary boundaries. Robertson’s Science of the Seance … it will appeal not only to those studying the paranormal, but also to scholars of technology, gender, and sexuality, and those who are interested in the origins of new sciences and the construction of knowledge. Tom Ruffles, Fortean Times It’s a rare treat when I get to indulge my interest in the paranormal through such a well-researched and argued work as Beth A. he provides a useful introduction to some of the work exploring the boundary between this world and the next in the period. ![]() Beth Robertson’s Science of the Seance helps to redress that imbalance. While there has been a considerable academic interest in Victorian Spiritualism and séance room phenomena, the 1918–1939 period has been less well served. This innovative reassessment of paranormal investigation and the transatlantic ties of the seance reveals how science, metaphysics, and the senses collided to inform gendered norms in the interwar era. The laboratory of the spirits that they created, however, opened up a space where mediums and ghostly subjects could and did challenge their claims to exclusive scientific expertise and authority. Representing themselves as masters of the senses, untainted by the effeminized subjectivity of the body, psychical researchers believed that machines and empirical methods could transform the seance from an isolated spiritual encounter into a transnational empirical project. Robertson draws back the curtain to reveal a world inhabited by researchers, spirits, and spiritual mediums, including the notorious Mina “Margery” Crandon. Science of the Seance resurrects the story of a select transnational group and their quest for objective knowledge of the supernatural world, casting new light on empiricism and its relationship to gender, sexuality, and the body in this era.ĭrawing on publications, correspondence, seance notes, and photographs from Canada, the UK, and the US, Beth A. In the 1920s and ’30s, people gathered in darkened rooms to explore the paranormal through seances.
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