Finding Meaning In Avery Gordon's Ghostly Matters

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In Avery Gordon’s Ghostly Matters, haunting is a method of sociological research. She argues, “To study social life one must confront the ghostly aspects of it” (7). Ghostly Matters is her attempt to understand the puzzling facts of social life through an analysis of the hauntings surrounding Sabina Spielrein, the desaparecido of Argentina and the lingering impact of racial slavery during the Reconstruction period in the United States. Gordon begins her search by outlining the limitations of sociological studies. She questions current methods of examining the relationships between knowledge, experience and power. Another definition of haunting can be used to describe the screaming presence which appears but, really isn’t present at all,

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