Cashman spoke on Supernatural Encounters on the Irish Border

On the invitation of Mustafa Mirzeler, Dr. Ray Cashman, Author of Storytelling on the Northern Irish Border (Indiana University Press, 2008), spoke to fascinated audience on “SUPERNATURAL ENCOUNTERS ON THE IRISH BORDER” Dr. Cashman’s presentation focused on the nonfictional accounts of supernatural encounters told by Irish storyteller Packy Jim McGrath. In these stories the supernatural bursts into everyday life; haunting presences and gaping absences force us to question the shape of reality and point to a divine plan. Having crossed a boundary, ghosts, wraith, and fairies are out-of-place in this material world, yet at the same time their presence confirms a broader cosmological order of which the here and now are but one part. Approaching these narratives with previous work on sense of place in mind offers new perspectives on both belief and sense of place scholarship. The presentation was sponsored by: Department of Anthropology, Africana Studies, Department of English, Department of History, Lee Honor’s College, Lewis Walker Institute, Gender and Women’s Studies Program.