Illustrated lecture by Heather Duncan, PhD candidate in the Department of English at the University at Buffalo 

Date: Sunday, August 24th 

Time: 8pm
Admission: $8 (Tickets here)

This lecture will explore the so-called “survival hypothesis”—the belief in the survival of consciousness beyond death—and its connection to J.B. Rhine’s research on ESP and psychokinesis at the Duke Parapsychology Lab from 1930 to 1965. Rhine, both a deeply religious and staunchly scientific man, battled both institutional tensions and the skepticism of colleagues over the course of his long career. Rhine’s tenure at the Lab saw the rise and fall of the field known as parapsychology, which has had resounding influence on popular culture and literary and filmic narratives. The lab’s relationship with the University and other mainstream scientific institutions will be explored as well as its continued influence on the fraught relationship between the sciences and the study of the paranormal and supernatural. This talk will be illustrated with materials collected from the archives of the Duke Parapsychology Lab.

Heather Duncan is a PhD candidate in the Department of English at the University at Buffalo. Her current work is focused primarily on the history and evolution of the scientific study of the paranormal and its influence on popular culture and literary works. Her methodology is derived from the writings of the speculative realists, particularly Bruno Latour, and her dissertation examines hauntings as a space in which to parse out the epistemological and ontological dilemmas raised by the attribution of agency to non-human entities.