The Kingdom of Ghosts
Bearing witness is complex, and haunted by the past and the present. It takes place through and within a web of power relations attested by truth telling. This essay suggests that ghosts have the capacity to bear witness beyond the human in the disoriented world of the ganzfeld, presented here in th...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis
2022
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/88245 |
| _version_ | 1848764991633620992 |
|---|---|
| author | Ryan, John Offord, Baden |
| author_facet | Ryan, John Offord, Baden |
| author_sort | Ryan, John |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Bearing witness is complex, and haunted by the past and the present. It takes place through and within a web of power relations attested by truth telling. This essay suggests that ghosts have the capacity to bear witness beyond the human in the disoriented world of the ganzfeld, presented here in the imbricated histories of Christmas Island. Ghosts offer non-human agency to the living. Their testimonies are reclamations of the world. We argue that spectral witnessing involves notions of calling to account, unblinking attention to what is, becoming aware of other realities that are present and the echoes of others (human and non-human) absent through their disappearance and excision from history or exclusion to the margins of society. These others include people seeking asylum, indentured labourers and their descendants, artists, and the living world. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:28:09Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-88245 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:28:09Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-882452022-08-22T01:16:54Z The Kingdom of Ghosts Ryan, John Offord, Baden Bearing witness is complex, and haunted by the past and the present. It takes place through and within a web of power relations attested by truth telling. This essay suggests that ghosts have the capacity to bear witness beyond the human in the disoriented world of the ganzfeld, presented here in the imbricated histories of Christmas Island. Ghosts offer non-human agency to the living. Their testimonies are reclamations of the world. We argue that spectral witnessing involves notions of calling to account, unblinking attention to what is, becoming aware of other realities that are present and the echoes of others (human and non-human) absent through their disappearance and excision from history or exclusion to the margins of society. These others include people seeking asylum, indentured labourers and their descendants, artists, and the living world. 2022 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/88245 10.1080/0969725X.2022.2046380 Taylor & Francis restricted |
| spellingShingle | Ryan, John Offord, Baden The Kingdom of Ghosts |
| title | The Kingdom of Ghosts |
| title_full | The Kingdom of Ghosts |
| title_fullStr | The Kingdom of Ghosts |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Kingdom of Ghosts |
| title_short | The Kingdom of Ghosts |
| title_sort | kingdom of ghosts |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/88245 |