Keeping in Touch: An Anthology of the Victorian SeanceMain MenuIntroductionFurther ReadingI - Spiritualism and Its BelieversII - Ambivalent SkepticsIII - Scoffers and FraudsIV - The Private SeanceV - The Public SeanceWork CitedMegan Brueningb3bbdc9bd1941527cc9ff27849ef1a643abdd7d3
A Colored Seance
12016-11-23T12:50:22-05:00Megan Brueningb3bbdc9bd1941527cc9ff27849ef1a643abdd7d3714plain2016-12-16T21:08:09-05:00Megan Brueningb3bbdc9bd1941527cc9ff27849ef1a643abdd7d3Published in the magazine Every Week in 1892, the anonymous author of “A Coloured Séance” gives us a brief glimpse into an entirely black, female séance (it is not clear if the medium is black though the author is explicit in explaining the other sitters are). As short as it is the article gives readers insight into how race was constructed not just as skin color but also through linguistic and religious structures. In turn, the séance verbally reifies black inferiority through the comic treatment of the women's emotional distress at contacting (or believing they are contacting) their loved ones.
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12016-11-23T13:09:14-05:00Megan Brueningb3bbdc9bd1941527cc9ff27849ef1a643abdd7d3IV - The Private SeanceMegan Bruening2plain2016-11-23T13:17:38-05:00Megan Brueningb3bbdc9bd1941527cc9ff27849ef1a643abdd7d3