[...]ious ="trms">authorities to protect pious christians (from a power that would overwhelm the faithful regardless of their individual acts, intentions, or beliefs)
inchoate suspicion (of the fearful, the resentful, the spiteful) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> reporting ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> inquisitors (="trms">positioned as experts) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> take this suspicion forward administratively ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='strcls'>*impersonal ="trms">sociological sense='strcls'>* (='lgc'><='lgc'>-- an ='thdf'>example of Weberian rationalization)
to suspect someone of maleficium was not new ='lgc'>--='not'>✕='lgc'>='lgc'>--> (in witch accusations) ="trms">authorities were now eager to act on suspicions in dependently
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unresolved sexual desires ='lgc'>+ such passion would be redirected in pathological, ="trms">perverse manner ='lgc'>==="nms">Häxan='lgc'>='lgc'>==> witch accusations
the film emphasizes the crucial role sex played in discerning what constituted witch="trms">craft and its status as a knowable ="trms">category of (malefic) human practice
a great deal of demonological thinking was devoted to justifying the fact that civil and Church officials, despite their fears, by and large were not bewitched
following satan's idiom...
="nms">Häxan's tortured ="trms">relation to “the truth”
the ="trms">question of ="trms">="trms">empirical certainty and reenactment haunts the status of the film as evidence
='strcls'>*acting the ideal type breathes life into the emptied, cliched figure='strcls'>* ='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•Christensenrelying on the fact that the truth of the witch will take its most visible form by acting her out ="trms">mimetically (='lgc'>='lgc'>~= Christensen chooses to “play” satan using his idiom to breathe life into his witch)
="lsts lst1">•Flaherty knew that the ="trms">visceral force of Nanook of the North depended on the felicity of his Inuit ="trms">interlocutors reenacting themselves
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Christensen seems to be offering a cure for the ='strcls'>*secularized christian blindness='strcls'>* at the heart of ='strcls'>*="trms">positivist human ="trms">science='strcls'>* ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> his audience is pulled in “through a lens of ="trms">science ='lgc'>=/= as misguided inquisitors”
working with ='strcls'>*="trms">figurative givens of witches and demons='strcls'>* ='lgc'>--="trms">formulate='lgc'>='lgc'>--> visual thesis (about uncanny, mobile power)
etchings into a ="trms">material
carving outlines into the image of figures that have been hiding in plain sight
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beautifully ="trms">composed tableau of the torture chamber
static plane of the tableau ='lgc'>=/= sense depth signify an open or free space
totality of (depicted) violence ='lgc'><='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="trms">composed alterity of the s="trms">cene's sty="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">listic cor="trms">respondence between accused and inquisitor
(Christensen's ="trms">method of) oscillating rhythm between tableau and face
="prgrph">-suppressing perspective and depth of field in favor of a continuous ="trms">affective movement as expressed in the face
='lgc'>--="ppl">Baxstrom='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="nms">Häxan is not grounded in a setting here; it is grounded in the forms of life ="trms">present in the shot
sense of corporeal alienation from herself ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> inhabit a script not her own ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> critical to the “success” of witch="trms">craft confessions
witch stereotype='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•="trms">Wild Ride
="lsts lst1">•pact with the Devil solemnized through sexual ="trms">intercourse-
="lsts lst1">•cannibalism
="lsts lst1">•دیگ cauldron as the locus of the rite
="lsts lst1">•='strcls'>*massed, coordinated, female ="trms">nature of witch="trms">craft='strcls'>*
judicial machinery of a witch trial required evidence of criminal acts that (by de="trms">finition) could not be witnessed
in ="nms">Häxan
="prgrph">-the power of cinema to witness exceeds that of the witch hunter
="prgrph">-what it does is “worse” than ="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">rigging the truth ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> it aligns itself (not with a concept of truth or the real but) with the power of the witch
(="nms">Häxan and many criminal ="trms">story films) works through ="trms">instruments of knowing rooted in the ='strcls'>*dynamics of the confession='strcls'>*
='at'>#="nms">ajayeb ="trms">storytelling
...="trms"nttrm="cluster,club">clumsily rendered, the w="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">riggling demons reflect an ="trms">interesting set of variations to the witch stereotype, both ="trms">ontologically and visually
(Maria giving birth to demon ="trms">children)
Thomas Aquinas's theorization of the ='strcls'>*virtual bodies='strcls'>* (of angels)
="prgrph">-angels do not need bodies for their sake but for ours ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> un="trms">natural couplings could produce ="trms">children, but that the bodily essence of devils would rule out the possibility that these ="trms">children would themselves be demons
16th century ="trms">author primarily concern with Satan's ability to manipulate and ="trms">pervert ="trms">language (in="trms"nttrm="cluster,club">cluding ="trms">erotic ="trms">language)
="trms">wild flowing hair of the women ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> a common visual ="trms">="trms"nttrm="metaph,metamorph,metabol,metal">metaphor for sexual promiscuity and disorder
images of canniba="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">listic night witches were explicitly a demonological variation on long-standing popular conceptions
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xxxxxx
persistence of witch="trms">craft
how witch="trms">craft might still exist as more than just one of many choices available on a personal empowerment “menu”
="prgrph">-how rituals pertaining to magic came to be understood as a problem of knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge
='strcls'>*magic binds forces that would otherwise overflow life='strcls'>*
a great subterranean need to “bind” forces that would otherwise exert themselves with impunity and without any greater explanation or meaning
='lgc'>='lgc'>--> enacting a de="trms">historification of a form of life that would otherwise be overwhelmed by the brutal timeliness of ="trms">historical being
="ppl">Baxstrom > de ="ppl">Martino, Janet
making the precarity of our ="trms">presence an object of knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge
(firm un="trms">questioning belief ='lgc'>=/=) local doubt ='lgc'>--sustins='lgc'>='lgc'>--> witch="trms">craft (in Buli -Bubandt)
...face off with a persistent, seemingly eternal, spectral threat
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Rolley
an anatomical (not geographical knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge, diabolical atlas) demonological understanding
Renessancian ="trms">world encounters ='lgc'>='lgc'>==> geo
='lgc'>[='strcls'>*='lgc'>]Renaissance='lgc'>: the age of demonology, the age of ="trms">cosmographic revolution (='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="trms">nature of ="trms">causality)
="prgrph">-="trms">presence of the devil in geographical space
="prgrph">-com="trms">posite and cross-disciplinary ="trms">network of nonhuman ="trms">causality and transmedia ="trms">writing ='lgc'>[demonologists ='lgc'>+ ="trms">cosmographers ='lgc'>+ ="trms">travellers='lgc'>]
="lsts lst1">•demonology='lgc'>: identifiable shared discursive field ='lgc'>-='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='gtrw'>go to ="ppl">Baxstrom
="lsts lst1">•demon ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> gunpowder (="trms">according to Rabelais and others) is the diabolical element amongst the classic tricolon='lgc'>: gunpowder, the nautical compass, and the printing press
emergence of a ="frds scrmbld"nttrm="Christianson">Christian ="trms">science of the devil (in the medieval West) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> liberation of demons (from supralunar to sublunar ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> into earthly realms)
Sabbat='lgc'>: an outpost of hell very much belonging to this ="trms">world
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='strcls'>*finding ghost is what we are all here for='strcls'>*
...nagging mischief they cause can turn deadly
violently jerks the body of the medium around
occasionally threatening or attacking onlookers
“keep filming” one of the old women whispers behind me ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> i do what i am told='lgc'> = i do exactly what i want to do
="trms">anthropologist='lgc'> = i cannot directly “see” the demon or the spirit ='lgc'>[='lgc'>~ what i am told to see, ='at'>@="nms">apass ='at'>#feedback='lgc'>], but i am convinced that they are there
(="nms">ajayeb ='lgc'>--='qstn'>?='lgc'>='lgc'>-->) older practices of defining ="trms">social facts and the discovery, ="trms">interpretation, and de="trms">finition of the ="trms"nttrm="already,spread">read ='lgc'>='lgc'>==> (roots of the predis="trms">position of research='lgc'>:) to sense, ="trms">interpret, and eventually master forces that appear to be nonsensical and yet are held to be essential to the reality of everyday ="trms">social life
='lgc'>[mad:='lgc'>] ='thdf'>the notion of ='strcls'>*irrational='strcls'>* as a privileged space in medical discourses (in France in the 19th century) ='lgc'>='lgc'>==> a mysterious and extra-="trms">social ="trms">language that the rising medical profession could adapt to its own purposes
“nonsense” of the “native”
(="ppl">Baxstrom's work on witch craze ='lgc'>[in 16th century='lgc'>] ='lgc'>--arguing='lgc'>='lgc'>-->) the problem of establishing proof in reference to the invisible forces has durably shaped our modes of investigating human ="trms">social and cultural life
='lgc'>[="nms">="nms">ajayebnameh ='lgc'>=/=='lgc'>]
="trms">social or cultural ="trms">anthropology in the 21st century='lgc'> = (human ="trms">sciences’ contemporary equivalent of the) ='strcls'>*old efforts to master the invisible='strcls'>* ='lgc'>='lgc'>-->='lgc'>{test ='lgc'>='lgc'>==> felicitous information as to the “true” ="trms">nature of obscure forces and their operations within ="trms">="trms">empirical real-="trms">world contexts='lgc'>}
='lgc'>[="nms">ajayeb='lgc'>: (part of the ="trms">histories of)='lgc'>] ="trms">systematic, ="trms">="trms">empirical investigation of strange events, singularities, miracles, and other types of staple ="trms">phenomena ='lgc'>='lgc'>~='lgc'>~='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="trms">scientific ="trms">method and the forms of knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge that emerged as the foundation of an ensemble of ='strcls'>*="trms">sciences proper to humans='strcls'>* ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> yet has been unable to expel (the unprovable forces) considering the o="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">rigins and forms of human diversity
='lgc'>[='strcls'>*='lgc'>]="trms">anthropology='lgc'>: the desire to credibly master nonsense
='lgc'>[with ="nms">ajayeb studies i am learing to be='lgc'>] able to argue for a ="trms">world below the threshold of perception (of medicine, biology, physics ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> defined their ="trms">relation to the nonsensical via a ='strcls'>*visibility to come='strcls'>* ='lgc'>='lgc'>==> ='lgc'>[="trms">embodied in new ="trms">technologies:='lgc'>] photograph, microscope, telescope)
="ppl">Deleuze ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> when ="trms">writing of ="trms">communication between heterogeneous ="trms">systems ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='lgc'>[we must pay attention to='lgc'>] what is this ="trms">agent, this force which ensures ="trms">communication='qstn'>? (='lgc'><='lgc'>-- role of ="trms">difference and resemblance)
forensic ="trms">anthropology
='lgc'>[title='lgc'>]
="trms">imaging and ="trms">imagining ="trms">technologies
the confusion of the ="trms">="trms">empirical (knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge ="trms">traversed by our everyday observations, sensations, passions) and the transcendental (construction of an ideal knower, now it is the queer) in ="nms">apass
figure of man foundational to the human ="trms">sciences ='lgc'>[did not exist in classical thought ='lgc'>~ ="nms">ajayeb='lgc'>] ='lgc'>--move-to='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="trms">="trms">empirically institute the experience, witnessing, and testimony of an individual human subject='lgc'> = ='strcls'>*the central linking relay between evidence, judgement, and the real='strcls'>* ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> the ability of a human being alone to serve as the sole source of evidence in an investigation of “the real” (='at'>#feedback) ='lgc'>[='lgc'>=/= Gilgamesh='lgc'>]
(in Qazwini's ="nms">="nms">ajayebnameh the testimony of an individual human subject is ambiguous)
(="ppl">Baxstrom ='lgc'>+ ="ppl">="ppl">Foucault) ='strcls'>*insist on rooting our form of knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge in the figure of the human being and the human being alone ='lgc'>--yet='lgc'>='lgc'>--> our gaze is continually drawn to a host of beings and ="trms">phenomena (the witch, the spirit, the shaman, etc.) that cannot properly be en="trms">folded back within this figure='strcls'>*
="trms">fabled de="trms">finition (='at'>@="nms">apass ="trms">relationship with defining)
="trms">fable of ="trms">anthropology (a dis="trms">position with regard of the ="trms">interlocutor other as truly “other”) ='lgc'>='lgc'>-->
“This goal is, briefly, to grasp the native's point of view, his ="trms">relation to life, to realise his vision of his ="trms">world. We have to study man, and we must study what concerns him most intimately, that is, the hold which life has on him. In each culture, the values are slightly ="trms">different; people aspire after ="trms">different aims, follow ="trms">different impulses, yearn after a ="trms">different form of happiness. In each culture, we find ="trms">different institutions in which man pursues his life-="trms">interest, ="trms">different customs by which he satisfies his aspirations, ="trms">different ="trms">codes of law and morality which reward his virtues or punish his defections. To study the institutions, customs, and ="trms">codes or to study the behavior and mentality without the subjective desire of feeling by what these people live, of realising the substance of their happiness—is, in my opinion, to miss the greatest reward which we can hope to obtain from the study of man.” -George Stocking
...the field-worker must, under the sig="trms">nature of ="trms">science, achieve the cultivated, sensed point of view of the other
='at'>@="nms">apass ='at'>#feedback (a privileged ="trms">relation with the unknown ='lgc'>[of the other artist to whom one gives feedback='lgc'>])
(="ppl">Baxstrom='lgc'>:) witch hunt='lgc'> = experiential engagement with nonsense
Malinowski ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> how can the invisible be forced into visibility or sensibility='qstn'>? ='lgc'>='lgc'>==>
="lsts lst1">•connect the study of diverse human ="trms">social practices to the seemingly nonsensical ="trms">worlds of gods, spirits, and witches that were offered as explanations
="lsts lst1">•countering hierarchical and polygenetic theories of diversity
="lsts lst1">•appropriate ="trms">="trms">empirical tests in the face of the doubled, impossible object of knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge
='strcls'>*="trms">method='lgc'> = cultivated ability to ="trms">craft experience and testimony into a “sensible” explanation of what otherwise would simply be ruled out as “nonsense”
15th century Europe ecclesiastical crisis='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•demons going viral (the viral proliferation of demonic power beyond the grasp of human intuition and thought)
="lsts lst1">•proliferation of witches (within the general population)
='lgc'>}='lgc'>='lgc'>==> growing power of Satan on earth ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> (sign of impending) apocalypse
='lgc'>='lgc'>==> growing fear and great doubt ='lgc'>[='lgc'>='lgc'>--> like today!='lgc'>]
Malleus Maleficarum (on witch="trms">craft, a revolution in early middle ages) ='lgc'>='lgc'>-->
="lstsrd">1. local ="trms">relation between investigative procedures
="lstsrd">2. constitution of evidence
="lstsrd">3. assertion of a fact
='lgc'>='lgc'>--> expertise in ="trms">matters real but invisible
16th century notions of the ="trms">positive element of seeing witches, sorcerers, and Satan himself
God's apparent absence ='strcls'>*in times of great change and strife='strcls'>* ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> an ='strcls'>*="trms">interpretive expertise='strcls'>* over the concrete, secondary manifestation of God's reality (was reassuring) ='lgc'>='lgc'>==> a relief to the pious believer ='lgc'>: “God's embrace of life ='lgc'>=/= devil's embrace of life” ='lgc'>=/= Heretics managed God's absence without that op="trms">position (a luxury to ="trms">imagine such a ="trms">world was denied to most of the people in that period, also denied to the ="trms">modern subject of the secular ="trms">present)
how does one know who is really hearing the prayers ='lgc'>[of the faithful='lgc'>]='qstn'>?
devil overhearing and ="trms">interfering with even the most intimate ="trms">communications
inquisitor ='lgc'><='lgc'>-- 16th century ="trms">questions of theology (in a ="trms">world where the ="trms">trappings of belief are everywhere but there is no incontrovertibly visible evidence of god's...)
demonologists of the 15th and 16th century were not sure about='lgc'>:
god
man
witch='lgc'>: the ="trms">abyss between god and man='lgc'> = a kind of proof, a reassurance that the evil of the ="trms">world can be explained (through the various iterations of satan's power)
demonologist ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> “God must exist because Satan is ="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">right in front ot me!”
='strcls'>***desire to believe ='lgc'>=/= (simple) belief='strcls'>***
="lsts lst1">•='lgc'>['desire to believe’ and ‘belief'='lgc'>] were not the same during the time of the witch craze
="lsts lst1">•were not the same in the fast-evolving discourses of the human ="trms">sciences of the 19th century and early 20th century
="lsts lst1">•are not the same today
='at'>@="nms">apass='lgc'>:
="lstsrd">1. the general tendency to remain an artist ='lgc'>~ a myth, an effect, a warrior
="lstsrd">2. to make anomaly the law عمومیت استثنا
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hearing the name of the witch ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> subject to stict verification
demonologists and inquisitors at this time desired proof ='lgc'><='lgc'>-- viral proliferation of the witch came to provide that proof
='strcls'>***="trms">interrogation under torture='lgc'> = an experimental form of knowing in crisis='strcls'>*** ='lgc'>[='at'>#="trms">styles of knowing='lgc'>]
confession ='lgc'>='lgc'>-->='lgc'>{ ='strcls'>*status of witnessing='lgc'> = a form of truth='strcls'>* ='lgc'>}='lgc'>='lgc'>~-> Boyle's New Experiments 1660 revolutionized practical experimental procedures in the laboratory (for gernerations to come...)
="lsts lst1">•experiments such as the trial by water de="trms">monstrates a deep (if not misguided) ='strcls'>*appreciation of cause-and-effect ="trms">relations='strcls'>* relative to the invisible forces at work in the ="trms">natural ="trms">world (='lgc'>=/= in="trms">difference to the truth, retreat into superstition) ='lgc'>='lgc'>='lgc'>~=> rendering of such procedures in expressive works of ='strcls'>*art='strcls'>* (indispensable to nascent proto="trms">science ='lgc'>--today='lgc'>='lgc'>--> an essential element of ="trms">science's ability to express truth)
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_='lgc'>+='strcls'>***'`='lgc'>='lgc'>~='lgc'>~/!=-='lgc'>='lgc'>~>
='strcls'>***the logic of gathering evidence='strcls'>***
(fundamental ='thdf'>assumption of ="trms">anthropology='lgc'>:)
='lgc'>[asserted by Levy-Bruhl:='lgc'>] ="trms">ontological ="trms">difference between the nonsensical ="trms">world of “primitives” and the ="trms">science of Western research ='lgc'>='lgc'>==> ='strcls'>*“natives” could not (or would not) produce a “proper” explanation of the forces around them or their own beliefs and motivations in ="trms">relation to these forces='strcls'>* (='lgc'>='lgc'>==> testimony ='lgc'>+ experience became essential tools for ethnographers)
='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='strcls'>***encounter between rese="trms"nttrm="search">archer and subject='strcls'>*** ='lgc'>[was never that of good faith ="trms">intercultural sharing='lgc'>] ='lgc'>==constituted='lgc'>='lgc'>==> a series of severe tests (by which the rese="trms"nttrm="search">archer could gather necessary ="trms">="trms">empirical evidence in order to make a felicitous truth statement regarding what was “really” at play)
='lgc'>}='lgc'>='lgc'>--> the nonsense to be mastered shifted from the demonic (='lgc'>~ incredible forces at play for the inquisitor ديوى) ='lgc'>--to='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ديوانه the misguided tall tales fo the native
='lgc'>-='lgc'>-='lgc'>='lgc'>-->='lgc'>{this is relevant for artistic research environment, encounter/friction between ="trms">different ="trms">styles of knowing
='at'>#feedback='lgc'>: mastering the nonsense of the other artist-rese="trms"nttrm="search">archer
='at'>@="nms">apass, research ="trms">presentation='lgc'>: misguided tall tales artists tell themselves='lgc'>}
='lgc'>[='at'>#feedback as passion='lgc'>]
="ppl">Avital ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> a passion or experience without mastery, without subjectivity, testimony, as passion, always renders itself vulnerable to doubt
(='lgc'>[='qstn'>?can we think of='lgc'>] artistic feedback as a) ='strcls'>*s="trms">cene of ethnographic encounter='strcls'>* ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> a kind of ='strcls'>*antagonistic trial='strcls'>* (whereby the ghosts and gods of the natives are forced out of the shadows and made concretely apparent to the senses of the ethnographer)
='lgc'>='lgc'>--> (in this context) fieldwork ='lgc'>='lgc'>==> knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge of hauntings ='lgc'>+ other nonsense that is itself haunted ='lgc'>='lgc'>~-> what gives testimony its power of fact ='lgc'>{='lgc'>--="ppl">Derrida='lgc'>='lgc'>--> if testimony truly resolves as certain[...]