Jack Hunter's Blog

"One of the key questions Hunter asks in this book is, “How can we be sure that the world-view we have come to accept as dominant is really the best suited for accurately describing the universe?” The Paranormal, his first book, is a response to this question and an introduction to the new and expanding field of Paranthropology; the fusion of anthropology with parapsychology. In seven short but information packed chapters, Hunter starts by discussing some of the anthropological perspectives on ghosts and gods, shamanism and possession, and magic and witchcraft. He then moves on to review the relationship of anthropology to the paranormal, summarises the history of parapsychology, and concludes with a discussion of how these two disciplines can mutually inform each other. The book includes an introduction by Dr. Fiona Bowie, Honorary Research Fellow in Anthropology at the University of Bristol, and an afterword by Dr. David Luke, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Greenwich and Research Associate at the Beckley Foundation, Oxford.

Hunter begins by defining the ‘supernatural’ in broad terms and emphasising the importance of taking a cross-cultural approach. He points out that, in many cultures, the supernatural is not considered to be abnormal or unusual and that the meaning of these experiences is of primary importance, rather than their ontological validity. Similarly, he suggests that any definition of religion must take this into account, including the psychosocial aspect and the role it plays in believers’ lives. Hunter starts by summarising some of the main psychological, sociological, and phenomenological theorists of religion. The psychological theorists include E.B. Tylor who has a theory that religion stems from misinterpretation of dreams and altered states of consciousness (ASCs) resulting in animism; Bronislaw Malinowski, who suggested that religion provides stability in an unpredictable world; and Claude Levi-Strauss, who considered that religious ideas reflect deep structures in the human mind. The sociological theorists include Emile Durkheim’s argument that religion provides group cohesion and social identity; and A.R. Radcliffe-Brown, who sees religions as components in a social organism bound together by performance of ritual. Finally, the phenomenological theorists include: Williams James’ view of such experiences as natural and having a “common core”; Rudolf Otto’s description of the “numinous,” that is at once both awe inspiring and fearful; David Hufford’s experiential source hypothesis based on the Newfoundland ‘Old Hag’ tradition; and Andrew Lang’s suggestion that it is actually genuine experiences of the paranormal that lead to supernatural beliefs. In true objective fashion Hunter diplomatically opts to take a pluralistic yet phenomenological approach.

Moving on to Shamanism and possession Hunter first of all acknowledges the different conceptions of terms such as the “soul,” “spirits,” and “ghosts,” and the roles that they play in supernatural beliefs. Examples are supplied by the ancient Egyptian system of a five-part soul, and the Trobriand Islanders studied by Malinowski, as well as the Judaeo-Christian tradition. With numerous examples from anthropology Hunter covers spirit worlds, ghosts, monotheism and polytheism, angels and demons, ancestors and saints, other-than-human-persons, propitiation, Marian apparitions, and psychedelic experiences. He refers to the putative origins of supernatural beliefs in the burial of grave goods during the Palaeolithic period and cave paintings from Lascaux, France from 17,300 years ago. Although recognising that Shamanism proper should perhaps refer only to the Siberian practitioners, he accepts four characteristics of shamanism in general usage: travel to the spirit world, use of ASCs, healing the sick, and taking on animal forms. Hunter distinguishes different forms of spirit possession as voluntary or involuntary, then discusses several theories of possession including: neurological conditions, dissociative identity disorder (DID), social empowerment, and misinterpreted cognitive processes. However, he does not rule out that these experiences could be genuine as reported by those who experience them.

In surveying magic Hunter notes that distinc-tions between so-called “black” and “white” are neither clear-cut nor particularly helpful. He also mentions the often overlooked but important point that branches of magic, such as divination, are part of a much wider cos-mological scheme. The theories he reviews are Sir James Frazer’s influential understanding of sympathetic magic; Marcel Mauss’ social function of the magician, magical beliefs, and magical rites; and Max Weber’s concept of the decline of magic leading to the disenchantment of society. Also included is Fiona Bowie’s division of witchcraft into medieval beneficent and ma-leficent magic, Satanic or anti-Christian magic, African and other traditional non-European beliefs, and modern Western paganism. Hunter notes that modern traditions of witchcraft are not necessarily invalidated despite their more recent and syncretistic origins.

Of particular interest are the experiences of anthropologists in the field. Hunter provides several ac-counts of ostensibly paranormal experiences such as Tylor’s participant-observation studies of Spiritualism, Evans-Pritchard’s experience with the Azande, and the even more dramatic experiences of Bruce T. Grindal with the Sisala, and Edith Turner with the Ndembu. From there he follows a rapid tour of parapsychology from Mesmerism, via the Fox sisters, D.D. Home, and Sir William Crookes, to the Society for Psychical Research, Joseph Rhine, and modern psi labs using random number generators and the ganzfeld technique. Hunter concludes that the main findings of psi research to date are: 1) the involvement of ASCs such as those in dreams, spirit possession, ganzfeld studies, or shamanism, and 2) the importance of mindset and cultural set-ting, such as the effects of beliefs and expectations on psi phenomena.

Finally, Hunter traces the origins of Paranthropology, the anthropological approach to the paranormal. Amongst the forerunners of this new discipline he includes Andrew Lang’s comparative psychical research, Ernesto de Martino’s emphasis on the need for ecological validity, Joseph K. Long’s “extrasensory ecology” that gave rise to the Anthropology of Consciousness, Charles Laughlin and transpersonal anthropology, Patric Giesler’s social perspective of “psi-in-process,” and the work of Young and Goulet that highlighted the experiences of anthropologists in the field and how those experiences affected them personally.

The book could be criticised on account of its title: "The Paranormal: Why People Believe in Spirits, Gods and Magic." The main title doesn’t do justice to Hunter’s topic, (i.e. Paranthropology) and the subtitle is misleading as he does not attempt to answer the question. To be fair, the answer to this question is not within the remit of the current book. The premise of this book is probably summed up best in Hunter’s own words, ‘To remove spirit possession, or indeed any supernatural practice or experience, from its cultural context and interpret it in alien terms is to lose sight of the true nature of the experience, and what it means…Paranthropology, therefore, takes a bold step in attempting to interpret supernatural systems of belief from the perspective of those who subscribe to them’.

On the whole, this is a useful and very readable overview of the growing field of Paranthropology that can be recommended to anyone interested in allied fields such as transpersonal psychology, religious experience, or parapsychology. Despite the book being an introduction there is much here to discover that provides exciting new avenues of exploration."

- Reviewed by Michael J. Rush in Journal of Exceptional Experiences and Psychology (JEEP), Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 46-48.

http://jeep.eu5.org/index.php/jeep/is...

'Jack Hunter’s new book is deft reframe of the so-called paranormal. If you have been dissatisfied with Richard Dawkin’s explanations for the annoying persistence of outlandish beliefs around the world (i.e. people are dumb), you will delight in this quick and readable study. As I’m sure Reality Sandwich readers are well aware, the standard scientistic position on the paranormal (or the transpersonal realms in general) is that it’s a delusion which human sheep lean on despite a complete lack of evidence.

Hunter patiently draws out several methodologies in the human sciences that provide exactly that: evidence, in the form of generations of studies and personal experiences from scientists working around the globe. In the old days, we called this empiricism. To be clear, Hunter is not advocating a belief in the paranormal. Rather, he’s interested in the experiences that often lie underneath beliefs without automatically judging them through the disenchanted lens of the West. In this book, Hunter maps the renewal in academia of the study of anomalies, or phenomena for which we currently don’t have a paradigm that satisfactorily explains them (without explaining them away). This includes the classic psi stuff (like telepathy and precognition) as well as energetic phenomena that are perceived as spirits and ghosts. As he quotes anthropologist Joseph Long in saying over thirty years ago, “a persistent ignoring of the relevancy of parapsychology in anthropology is nothing less than scientistic ethnocentricism.”

In less than 150 pages, Hunter leads us through a hopeful academic future that integrates the findings of parapsychology--which is a clinical, lab based discipline--with anthropology, which has truth claims based on personal and collective experience in other cultures. He calls this paranthropology (and edits a peer-reviewed journal by the same name).

There’s also some juicy stories of extraordinary experiences that I think many people will enjoy hearing about, especially as they are told by renowned researchers who dared to articulate what happened to them at the risk of tarnishing their reputations. The value of acknowledging this “spooky” realm of human experience is important, not just for a more complete rendering of poltergeists and ayahuasca sprites for posterity, but also for understanding and navigating contemporary events. Take, for example, the recent (and ongoing) murders of women in Papua New Guinea, who are being tortured and killed in public due to calls of sorcery.

As Hunter notes, the misunderstanding of anomalistic events by fearful people can lead to accusations of witchcraft. Ironically enough, the atheistic crowd surrounding Dawkins resembles frenzied witch-hunting villagers more than beacons of rational light in this regard. Hunter suggests, why not get out of our armchairs once again, and experience the world as others do who live in an enchanted world?

We might just learn something that leads to new observations, theories and hypotheses. And then we can test them, like good scientists are supposed to do.'

Ryan Hurd is an independent scholar, editor of DreamStudies.org, and board member of the International Association for the Study of Dreams.

http://www.realitysandwich.com/rsrevi...

"Jack Hunter’s Why People Believe in Spirits, Gods and Magic takes an anthropological approach to examining potential answers to its title, examining ghosts, witchcraft, shamanism and other convictions within the context of human societies and cultures.

While slightly heavier than the typical book on the paranormal, this is no bad thing – sometimes it pays to question our opinions and examine the world from a different perspective. It is also refreshing to read references to other cultural beliefs, and be made aware that while the paranormal exists all over the world, the form it takes can be radically different from that to which we are normally exposed.

As expected from a work coming from an academic approach, the references are many and highlight a plethora of paths for any interested party to follow. The writing style reflects its approach, although a remark about anthropologists who start to believe that ghosts are the spirits of the dead have gone ‘native’ made me smile.

It is important to remember the work is an introduction - the majority of chapters could easily become major works in themselves, which one hopes will one day happen.

Hunter concludes by recommending a multi-disciplinary approach to examining the paranormal, one which combines parapsychology and anthropology, and having made some compelling points, one leaves the book thinking ‘why not?’ – after all, there are some massive holes in our paranormal knowledge, even after a hundred years of scientific research.

Overall, a well argued, refreshingly different and eye opening look at the world of beliefs and the paranormal."

(http://www.paranormaldatabase.com/books/)

"This fair and reasoned approach to the supernatural in other cultures is typified by the recent emergence of paranthropology as a renewed anthropological approach to the paranormal. Paranthropology is a rejuvenation of the transpersonal anthropology that arose in the 1970s, largely as a backlash to intellectual prejudice against honest and open reporting of paranormal phenomena by anthropologists at that time. Paranthropology offers a fresh approach to the phenomena in that it attempts to avoid making a priori judgements about the reality, or not, of different experiences and beliefs, and instead aims to explore the phenomena in the spirit of Joseph K. Long, in that, ‘a persistent ignoring of the relevancy of parapsychology in anthropology is nothing less than scientistic ethnocentricism.’ Indeed the very acceptance of these phenomena as experiences at least worthy of scientific consideration harks back to the writings of the father of American psychology, William James, who in his posthumous treatise on ‘Radical Empiricism’ entreated researchers to include all experience under the rubric of science. Celebrating the centenary of that book in 2012, we are reminded by William James that, ‘to be radical an empiricism must neither admit into its construction any element that is not directly experienced, nor exclude from them [sic] any element that is directly experienced.'"

- Dr. David Luke (Co-Author of 'Anomalistic Psychology')

"In clear, concise language Jack Hunter introduces the reader to some of the key theories, personalities and concepts in the anthropology of religion, particularly as they relate to notions of the supernatural. As Hunter points out, the term ‘supernatural’ is rather problematic, being based on Western presuppositions that there is a distinction between a natural and a supernatural order (often explicitly or implicitly regarded respectively as real and unreal), that is not shared by most peoples in most historical periods. Familiar topics such as witchcraft, shamanism and spirit possession are succinctly presented with the aid of historical and cross-cultural examples. The chief innovation of this Introduction, however, is the inclusion of a chapter on ‘Ethnography and the Paranormal,’ a subject Hunter is particularly well qualified to write about as founder and editor of the groundbreaking journal Paranthropology, and a co-founder of the Afterlife Research Centre."

- Dr. Fiona Bowie (Author of 'The Anthropology of Religion')

"Jack Hunter presents a thorough and well-integrated overview of social and behavioral scientific theories of the supernatural, and illuminates the significance of methodologies for studying such phenomena. Legitimating the "possibilian" study of the "paranormal" continues the anthropological project of escaping from the ethnocentrism of discounting nondominant views and experiences."

- Prof. Charles F. Emmons (Author of 'Chinese Ghosts and ESP,' 'Guided by Spirit,' and 'Science and Spirit').