Research Evelien Jonckheere

Abstract

The proposed study will map and analyze the way spiritualism, popular entertainment, science and religion was dynamically interconnected in Belgium between 1830 and 1930. It departs from the hypothesis that performative and theatrical aspects of spiritualism were essential in its rise and popularity, and yet at the same time contributed to its downfall. This focus on performance will place the known actors in the field of spiritualism in a new light and is key to understanding their specific interactions. This research will unearth the relationships between mediums and spiritualists, professional show people and involved scientific and religious individuals, who kept spiritualism alive through performing it and by surrounding these performances in lively debate. The geographical focus is placed on Belgium, a country with multiple cultural contexts and a crossroads for transnational influences. Furthermore, the vibrant Belgian spiritualist scene has yet to be thoroughly researched. This study aims to situate spiritualism in relation to popular performance culture and analyze the role of show people in the rise and fall of spiritualism, nuancing and adjusting dominant narratives about the role of different actors, the class they may have belonged to, and the place of women in spiritualism. It also aims to develop a better understanding of the role of technological media in creating effects, searching for empirical evidence and unmasking the séances.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Wynants Nele
• Co-promoter: Jonckheere Evelien
• Co-promoter: Van Osselaer Tine
• Fellow: Welslau Hannah

Research team(s)

• Antwerp Research Institute for the Arts (ARIA)

Project website

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Human zoo exhibitions and freak shows in the Musée du Nord, cross-dressing in 'revues fin d'années' at the Alcazar, and shadows of 'types connus' in the artistic cabaret of the Diable-au-Corps: fin-de-siècle Brussels was obsessed with stereo-'types' as they re-classified people in a shifting social context. In this project the construction, dissemination and transformation of stereo-'types' is analyzed against a background of physiognomy, a (pseudo)scientific practice that reads facial features as signifiers of character, health, class, gender, age, race etc. Physiognomy is often reduced to Lavater's famous 'Physiognomische Fragment' (1775-1778). Nevertheless, it reached new heights in the Fin de Siècle with Lombroso's facial classifications. By unveiling a network of scientists, showmen, journalists and artists in popular performance, this project demonstrates how a physiognomic body policy was closely connected to the construction and dissemination of fin-de-siècle stereo-'types' in popular performances. However, a counter-culture immediately appeared and stereo-'types' performed a new role in 'Tout-Bruxelles'. Firemen turned into firewomen and the Brussels 'ketje', an everyday working-class 'kid', was transformed into a hero. As such, this project detects the key role of fin-de-siècle stereo-'types' in popular performances staged in Brussels where they were employed as a strategy to cope with daily social struggle .

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Vanhoutte Kurt
• Fellow: Jonckheere Evelien

Research team(s)

• Research Centre for Visual Poetics

Project type(s)

• Research Project