Control of the Dead and the Dead with Control: The Social Uses of Spirits in Southern Ghostlore

Name: Control of the Dead and the Dead with Control: The Social Uses of Spirits in Southern Ghostlore
Start: 2025-10-19T14:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-10-19T16:00:00-05:00
Location: 100 9th St NW, Alabaster, AL, United States, Alabama 35007

Schedule

Sun Oct 19 2025 at 02:00 pm to 04:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

100 9th St NW, Alabaster, AL, United States, Alabama 35007 | Alabaster, AL

This talk by Dr. Kayla M. Jordan examines the uses of various southern ghost stories from the early to mid-twentieth century as means of social control through their specific portrayals of death and dying, historical memory, and emotion. As they reflected societies norms about death and dying, they subsequently helped not only continue many historical fallacies but also influenced the actions of the living by giving them ghostly depictions of the consequences of failing to meet societal expectations.
This event is possible thanks to the Alabama Historical Association.