Ghost Stories Campfire Nights – Session I by Z’ming
Fri (9 Sep), 10pm
FB: http://www.facebook.com/events/164457327320883
Peatix: http://peatix.com/event/197177
This series of event will simulate the atmosphere of a campfire night, where participants would get to share or listen to supernatural tales, no matter true or imaginary, and reflect on one’s fascination or hidden fears as may be tied to such tales. One may also simply sit around and share food and drinks while listening, for a cool night of recapturing a lost art of storytelling.
What makes a ‘good’ ghost story? What lies behind our fascination with ghost stories in the first place? What may such narratives reveal of our human nature as listeners or storytellers, just as they may reveal something of the otherworldly or the unknown terrains of the past? This session invites participants to share ghost stories or supernatural accounts which they may have learnt of through the older generations or any media – which may reflect on lingering cultural memory tied to particular sites or milieus. One is welcome to share ways of interpreting the unexplained and ways of overcoming one’s fears of the dark or the unknown. The facilitator will share his own perspectives on ghost stories as a realm of tension between past and present, the self and the other, urban and rural, with some help of examples in literary texts east and west.
About the Facilitator
Z’ming obtained a PhD in heritage studies from Germany in 2013, with a thesis on intangible heritage and intercultural dialogue in Singapore. He then did a postdoctoral fellowship in literary and cultural studies at the Nanyang Technological University, where he taught a module in Chinese film studies among other things. He is interested in the transmission of cultural memory through different forms of embodiment.