Episode 8 of Sharron Kraus’ Preternatural Investigations podcast is called “Wierdness Without, Wierdness Within.” The posted description says:
In which the ways the communities we belong to are shown to affect our sense of self and our ability to find magic, meaning and happiness in our own lives. Differences between narrow communities and those that are more open, welcoming and diverse are looked at and what makes us who we are is shown to involve more than the factual aspects of our identity – the self is shown to be preternatural.
Music by Sharron Kraus, with Nick Palmer, Nancy Wallace, Harriet Earis, Oliver Parfitt, Jenny Bliss, Neal Heppleston, Guy Whittaker and Nick Jonah Davis
REFERENCES
Harry Smith, Anthology of American Folk Music
David Olusoga, The James MacTaggart Lecture, Edinburgh TV Festival 2020
Greil Marcus, Invisible Republic: Bob Dylan’s Basement Tapes
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics
Penda’s Fen
Philip Pullman, ‘Imaginary Friends: Are Stories Anti-Scientific?’
“Preternatural Investigations is a podcast about things that are strange but not too strange; the marvelous things that lie ‘between the mundane and the miraculous’1.
“As a rationalist who believes there is magic, mystery and meaning to be found in the world around us, my investigations are influenced by William James’ enquiries into religious experience and Mark Fisher’s explorations of the weird and the eerie.
“My subjects will include the magic we experience in certain places, as a result of participating in certain kinds of activity, in response to art, music and literature, and in nature; the relationship between fictional representations of magic and the preternatural magic we can experience in the world, at wonder, imagination and the ability to find new ways of seeing familiar things, the way fictional and other constructed worlds intersect with and are grafted onto the natural world, enabling us to experience the world as a many-layered palimpsest that draws us in, leads us on, and reveals itself to us at the same time as giving us insights into aspects of ourselves.
“Preternatural Investigations ran for 12 weeks, starting Sunday 23rd August, hosted by musician and writer Sharron Kraus.”
https://preternatural-investigations.org/episode-8/.
