Anthropomorphism as Symbolic Interaction: The Demographics of Purgatory

Abstract

In this chapter, I take a symbolic interactionist look at the anthropomorphic projections of 38 people in four large Canadian cities who report having encountered ghosts. As part of a larger project on perceived encounters with ghosts, I interviewed these people using audiotape, transcribed the interviews, and identified themes within them. Together, they mentioned 195 ghosts and described their appearances and actions. I identified anthropomorphic projections in four areas: (1) Physicality – pertaining to the bodies of the ghosts, (2) Relational – pertaining to kinship ties, e.g., mothers, fathers, grandmothers, (3) Rational – the ghosts' motivations and justifications, and (4) Affective – pertaining to the ghosts' emotions. These anthropomorphic projections were the respondents' efforts at sense making after having encountered what they believed to be phantasmal.

Citation

Aveline, D. (2023), "Anthropomorphism as Symbolic Interaction: The Demographics of Purgatory", Chen, S.-L.S. (Ed.) Festschrift in Honor of David R. Maines (Studies in Symbolic Interaction, Vol. 57), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 101-116. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0163-239620230000057015