Anthropology of the Paranormal - What Can Culture Teach Us About the Unknown?

In this premier episode of Beyond the Human, anthropologists Chris and Ryan introduce a bold new approach to the paranormal - one grounded in academic inquiry, lived experience, and cultural context. Why do so many people across time and place report strange encounters? What happens when scholars take these stories seriously?

We unpack what anthropology is and how the anthropological perspective offers a unique lens for exploring supernatural and anomalous beliefs and experiences from ghost sightings and UFO encounters to spirit possession and contested illness. This episode lays the foundation for thinking critically and compassionately about the “paranormal” through cultural relativism and cross-cultural comparison while emphasizing the importance of participation to gain a thorough understanding and be able to empathize with others who have

experienced the unknown or unknowable.

Through an anthropological lens, we explore how the paranormal is defined, experienced, and made meaningful across different societies. Rather than dismissing these experiences as irrational or unscientific, we examine them as important expressions of belief, identity, and the limits of conventional knowledge. We don’t try to “prove” or “debunk” the paranormal - we ask what these stories reveal about what it means to be human.

Whether you’re a skeptic, a believer, or just curious, this episode invites you to rethink the boundaries of reality - and academia.

Topics discussed in this episode:

1:35 - Meet Chris and Ryan

6:41 - Why We Started This Podcast

10:30 - What is Anthropology?

19:09 - How to Think Like an Anthropologist

34:57 - Anthropology Meets the Paranormal

43:57 - What’s coming on Beyond the Human

Resources for additional research:

A Haunting in Connecticut special

Never Whisper at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology

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