MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

Images of psychics, mediums, and ghost hunters permeate our culture. From “Long Island Medium” to “Ghost Hunters” to “Dead Files,” our culture is intrigued by the unknown and the possibilities of communicating with the dead. While the images are interesting, the reality is a religion that is often ignored in popular culture—Spiritualism. Lily Dale Assembly located in western NY is the largest spiritualist community in the United States—it is the “real life” village filled with mediums. Each year, over twenty-thousand people visit Lily Dale Assembly. Lily Dale, known as the town that “talks to the dead,” attracts a variety of tourists wanting to learn about and celebrate the history of spiritualism, experience a female-dominated religious society, and test community members’ abilities to really “talk to the dead.” In this presentation, the author argues that Lily Dale Assembly represents invitational rhetoric. Invitational rhetoric provides a perspective in which to analyze texts and, in this case, architecture in a way to see how equality is created through place and space. Invitational rhetoric can “resist an oppressive system” (Foss & Griffin, 1995, 16) because it presents “itself an Other way of thinking/speaking” (Daly, 1978, p. xiii). Foss & Griffin explain that invitational rhetoric “enables rhetors to disengage from the dominance and mastery so common to a system of oppression and to create a reality of equality and mutuality in its place, allowing for options and possibilities not available within the familiar, dominant framework” (p. 17). The author uncovers how Lily Dale Assembly creates a safe space for individuals to explore the unknown and the principles of Spiritualism without judgment. Drawing on the ideas of invitational rhetoric, the seven key principles of Spiritualism and the rhetorical construction of place on the grounds of Lily Dale Assembly, the author explores the grounds of Lily Dale Assembly to show how this community works to create a space where people can grapple with representation, epistemology, and Spiritualism. The author speculates on the disconnect of the images of psychics, mediums, and ghost hunters in popular culture with the religious practice of Spiritualism.

References Daly, M. (1978). Gyn/Ecology: The metaethics of radical feminism. New York: Beacon Press. Foss, S.L. & Griffin, C.L. (1995). Beyond persuasion: A proposal for an invitational rhetoric. Communication Monographs, 2-20.