Discover the dynamic interdisciplinary field of hauntology and “spectral anthropology.” Ghosts, hauntings, multisensory paranormal and supernatural encounters are explored through narrative analysis, including active investigations of local urban legends. The course addresses anthropology’s enduring fascination with otherworldly phenomena, restless modern spirits occupying abandoned urban ruins, and the reanimated pasts that manifest hauntings in the wake of social and political injustice.

This course will introduce and allow students to critically explore settler colonialism as a distinct and pervasive form of contemporary colonialism which reproduces white supremacy and social inequalities. The course critically examines anthropology’s participation in colonial discourses that have dispossessed and oppressed indigenous peoples. It further explores settler colonial discourses that manifest in popular culture forms including horror and science fiction narratives.