The Trickster and the Paranormal by Hansen George P

Author:Hansen, George P. [Hansen, George P.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: calibre
Published: 2001-08-20T04:00:00+00:00

Summary

The purpose of this chapter was two-fold: first, to present a case study showing the complexities of hoaxing, and second, to give further

insight into UFO phenomena. The next Part of this book develops theoretical issues. In order to help prepare the reader, my concluding remarks here will address some of them, including marginality, rationalization, participation, and ambiguity. With the examples from this chapter, the abstract formulations to come should be more easily comprehended.

UFOs are liminal and anti-structural; they are found betwixt and between the heavens and the earth (a binary opposition). They have properties in common with angels, spirits, fairies, and demons. These are all interstitial, and when one enters this realm, one must tread cautiously because other binary oppositions can become blurred. The imagination-reality opposition is especially vulnerable.

Hoaxes are liminal productions. They lower the statuses of the victims, and loss of status is one of the defining characteristics of liminal conditions. Marginality is another trickster quality, and hoaxes help marginalize not only the victims but the whole field of ufology.

Hoaxes assist the rationalization and disenchantment of the world. They help consign the paranormal to the realm of fraud and gullibility, so that the phenomena receive little serious study. With the taint they induce, hoaxes protect the paranormal from close examination.

Anti-structure is a trickster quality, and it manifests in ufology’s inability to effectively institutionalize its research. The failure is not a shortcoming of the leaders in the field, but rather it is a direct consequence of the phenomena studied.

In hoaxes, victims and investigators are often active participants. Hoaxers may shape their plots to fulfill the expectations of the dupes, and the dupes’ responses thereby help determine a hoax’s progress and direction. Thus an investigator’s beliefs and expectations can influence the events generated by the hoaxer. This in effect constitutes a blurring of observer and observed, and it causes problems for objective inquiry because the investigator unwittingly participates in the phenomena. The topic of participation will be discussed in the next Part. It involves a blurring of subject and object, of self and other.

Ambiguity is a salient aspect of hoaxes. The actions and products of hoaxers can be interpreted in several ways. They can mean different things to different people. They show the difficulty in establishing an objective perspective from which to understand the events. Motives and purposes may be impossible to determine, and ambiguous, uncertain situations may never be resolved. Ambiguity is a trickster characteristic, and it is a central issue in post-structuralist literary theory, as will be discussed in the next Part.

In Western culture today, ambiguity, hoaxing, liminality, antistructure, and the paranormal are all to be avoided, overcome, or shunned. They destabilize the rational world. They have not been given the theoretical attention they deserve. There are subtle taboos surrounding them, and that is a clue to their nature.

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