Paper short abstract:

The contribution tries to approach the processes of shaping narratives of mystery, stories about anomalous experiences, phenomena considered paranormal or supernatural, asking about their position in relation to discourses of knowledge and experience, as well as their struggles for legitimation

Paper long abstract:

UFOs, ghosts, haunted houses, possessions, cryptozoology... Stories about anomalous experiences, phenomena considered paranormal or supernatural, or "mysterious things" have existed and still exist in all times and cultures. The proposed paper focuses on the concept and “narratives of mystery”. These narratives try to bring together what is called "border phenomena" (Grenzphänomene): that is, phenomena of contradictory nature, between the daily and the exceptional. “Narratives of mystery” break, on the one hand, everyday life and socially legitimized models of experience and knowledge. For these models “mystery” appears as marginal, subaltern, and even as subversive discourse. But, on the other, these narratives are part of the collective imaginaries and popular cultures. In this way, the narratives about mystery are situated in a liminal space between accepted and not accepted, known and unknown, normality and exceptionality.

Which stories are told from the "world of mystery"? What characteristics do “narratives of mystery” have? What do they say about the established orders? Who say and who listen to them? Who condemns these narratives? The contribution tries to approach the processes of shaping narratives of mystery, asking about their position in relation to other discourses of knowledge and experience, as well as their struggles for legitimation