The Classes that Haunt Us

Why do you think we are so fascinated by the supernatural, and what does this say about the human condition?

Modern living is oftentimes characterised by a certain routine, banal, everyday existence. There’s a level of control and comfort that is derived from a rational, standardised and empirically-driven approach to how we think and behave. The fascination with the supernatural that we see with some groups could be a desire to break out of the routine.

There’s also a fascination in wanting to be enchanted. One of the characteristics of modern society is that it’s quite disenchanted; there are answers to almost everything. But for aspects that remain difficult to explain, there’s a lure in the mystery of what could lie beyond the physical. 

Modern society is also often associated with a rise in secularism. How has this impacted the belief in ghosts and spirits?

What’s quite fascinating is that the process of secularisation has not necessarily cancelled out other kinds of perspectives. While we do see individuals and groups drawing reference to the importance of empirical evidence in making sense of the world, they often remain open to other explanations, especially if scientific reasoning doesn’t resonate with what they’re experiencing.

Some groups are therefore drawn to the supernatural because it provides them with a therapeutic approach or a way to make sense of particular challenges that are not necessarily addressed by rationality or empiricism. This could be an openness to a religious or spiritual perspective or even an approach that combines biomedicine with supernatural beliefs.

And interestingly, quite a number of supernatural practitioners have now borrowed the language of science to legitimise their craft as well.

What variation do we see in how different cultures understand ghosts?

Typically, the idea of the ghost comes from a somewhat Eurocentric basis. It comes from a particular context itself which draws reference to dead people. But the category of the supernatural itself is more wide-ranging, and certain societies will make distinctions between different kinds of ghosts and spirits through terms like hantu, jinn, poltergeists, phantoms, wraiths, and so on.

One question I often ask students is whether these concepts are derived from a particular cultural milieu. Do they necessarily make sense? Do they resonate with their own experiences, and their own understanding of the supernatural world? Are there ethnic, class, or gendered components to the classifications we see?  

In this respect, one of the important takeaways is that these concepts and typologies are not universal, and that, while there are interesting parallels that can be drawn, there are also important differences between such cultural contexts we can try to explain.

Witches are often depicted as women. How do cultural attitudes toward witches reflect broader societal views on womanhood?

When I ask my students what comes to mind when they think about witches, there admittedly does tend to be a dominant representation and a gendered dimension to how a witch is often portrayed. But the category has also transformed over time.

In the past, accused witches tended to be women who were often maligned or considered to be heretic, and they were persecuted on the perception of transgressing certain moral or religious norms.

In today’s context, however, we find that the category has become much more diverse and interestingly has a component of female empowerment as well. For instance, one of our NUS alumnae has embarked on a career as a witch—she has a shop in Sim Lim Square—and this is an example of how we’ve had to rethink what being a witch means now in distinction from its historical past.

What I also try to demonstrate to our students is that, while witches are dominantly framed as women, there are societies in which men and children are labelled as witches as well. And again, the boundaries of these definitions are also quite porous; the Malay bomoh, the Chinese tangki, or other examples within Southeast Asia, for instance, might have some characteristics of what may traditionally be defined as a witch, but they’re also combined with other characteristics that might be more associated with a spirit practitioner.

What can pop culture and film tell us about societal views of the supernatural?

In one lecture, I use horror films to examine the gendered component of monsters within Southeast Asian films. The dominant representation we find is typically female, and malevolent, but that so-called malevolence needs to be contextualised as well, as it’s often interpreted through a limited patriarchal lens.

For instance, the Pontianak is often portrayed as someone who has died from childbirth and come back to take revenge against, more often than not, men who have wronged her. These representations have in fact transformed over time historically and between different groups. So, our class discusses why and what this says about the societies in which these films are situated.

What do you hope students take away from the course?

I would say the key objective is to demonstrate that the realm of the supernatural is in many ways a social and cultural phenomenon. Studying the beliefs and practices around the supernatural allows us to understand the social, political and cultural context in which they’re situated, as well as to better appreciate the cultural diversity that is observed.  

Also, that there is a continued fascination with the supernatural, despite the fact that Singapore is an increasingly modernised, rational society, allows us to move beyond the idea that modern societies are characterised in particularly static ways. It shows that we still try to remain enchanted and engage in moments of re-enchantment in our lives.