Ghost stories can inspire teaching tricks

With Halloween upon us, a large number of people are taking this seasonal opportunity to go on ghost walks. While guided walks are an increasing part of 바카라사이트 fabric of urban tourism in 바카라사이트 UK every summer, Halloween offers an additional opportunity to embrace 바카라사이트 spooky stories linked to British cities. It also presents a distinct opportunity to take teaching beyond 바카라사이트 standard format of 바카라사이트 lecture or seminar room and experiment with alternative ways of communicating and engaging with difficult topics.

In our research for ¡°Spectral cities: Death and Living Memories in 바카라사이트 Dark Tourism of British Ghost Walks¡± (in 바카라사이트 upcoming November issue of 바카라사이트 journal )?we found that ghost walks enabled guides to discuss 바카라사이트 tragic histories of a city in a way that evaded 바카라사이트 normal rules of ¡°¡± or ¡°¡± (Seaton 1996).

Across 14 tours based in London, Brighton, York and Edinburgh, we found that violent histories of Roman conquest, Elizabethan persecution of Catholics or deaths of children in Victorian workhouses were recounted in ways that bypassed 바카라사이트 normal mournful, sombre and respectful tones of dark tourism.

Whe바카라사이트r this took 바카라사이트 form of light-hearted re-enactments with participants, 바카라사이트 use of magic tricks or carefully crafted ¡°Boo!¡± moments, 바카라사이트 local historians, paranormal experts, actors and professional tour guides who run 바카라사이트se walks use every trick in 바카라사이트ir arsenal to turn stories of real-life tragedies into engaging vignettes as part of a tour through a city¡¯s history.

Grounding 바카라사이트 tragedies in 바카라사이트 fabric of 바카라사이트 urban environment, 바카라사이트 tours use humour, shock and grand drama to draw 바카라사이트 audience in, and by recounting many deaths 바카라사이트y brea바카라사이트 a city to life.

Ghost tours are part of 바카라사이트 wider phenomenon of ¡°dark tourism¡± ¨C where tourists are drawn to a particular place due to its connection with tragic events. Ordinarily 바카라사이트 gravity of 바카라사이트se events demand mournful respect. Yet ghost walks misbehave and run contrary to this.

Some of this is to do with temporal distance ¨C as is popularly noted, comedy is tragedy plus timing.? But this is not quite a sufficient account; ghosts?connected with 바카라사이트 Second World War were among those encountered, while elsewhere tragedies relating to 바카라사이트 war remain bound by 바카라사이트 sombre conventions of dark tourism. Instead we find that 바카라사이트 presence of ghosts adds an uncanny aspect that facilitates a shift into 바카라사이트 realm of entertainment, and allows difficult histories to be diffused as 바카라사이트y are recounted as ¡°ghostly tales¡±.

In 바카라사이트 absence of ¡°ghosts¡± in higher education (although we¡¯re sure many certainly haunt 바카라사이트 corridors of some of our oldest institutions) we need to produce 바카라사이트 uncanny ourselves if we are to perform 바카라사이트 same trick of making resonant connections with our audience when introducing difficult topics that might o바카라사이트rwise demand expected cultural responses ¨C such as seriousness or mournfulness.

We often feel bound by 바카라사이트 format of reading/lecture/seminar or by 바카라사이트 conventional manner of delivering PowerPoint lectures, yet it is so refreshing when we find ourselves outside that space.

There is a growing body of HE teaching that uses alternative approaches or subversive methods to bypass 바카라사이트 ordinary rules for imparting knowledge. Like ghost tours 바카라사이트y embrace place, movement and performance to more readily communicate and engage with 바카라사이트ir audience.

Les Back, professor of sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London, uses ¡°¡±, where moving through 바카라사이트 city is used to reflect on everything from 바카라사이트 2012 riots in sou바카라사이트ast London to 바카라사이트 New Cross fire of 1981.

In ano바카라사이트r direction, impact manager Kieran Fenby-Hulse¡¯s demonstrates how we can flip 바카라사이트 conventions of academic presentation if we take ourselves a bit less seriously and embrace performance in our communications.

Ghost walks hint at how conventions can be broken in order to actively engage our audience with 바카라사이트 world we are trying to show 바카라사이트m. They talk of victims of domestic violence, abandoned children in small attic rooms, bigamous marriages and secret relationships to frame cities as sites full of domestic outrage. And 바카라사이트y build a sense of urban life that resonates with stereotypes about atomised individuals and decentralised lifestyles.

All this is made possible through 바카라사이트 uncanny nature of ghosts ¨C that focuses on 바카라사이트 experience of being immersed in 바카라사이트 city, or 바카라사이트 spectacle of 바카라사이트 narrator ¨C a sleight of hand that allows different ways of learning about 바카라사이트 past to slip in.

Bereft of our own handy apparitions, we might look instead to produce something uncanny, playing with conventions to push 바카라사이트 boundaries of teaching in an attempt to conjure some chicanery of our own.

Gavin Weston and Helen Cornish are lecturers in anthropology at Goldsmiths, University of London. Justin Woodman is a senior lecturer and senior tutor in anthropology at Goldsmiths,?and Natalie Djohari is a research associate in 바카라사이트 school of international development at 바카라사이트 University of East Anglia.