David Hufford

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David J. Hufford is an American folklorist and ethnographer known for his research on paranormal phenomena and sleep paralysis. He is professor emeritus of Humanities and Psychiatry at Penn State University College of Medicine, and the former chair of Medical Humanities.

Contents

Career

Hufford attributed his interest in sleep paralysis to a personal experience he had with it as a student in 1963. He later went to study at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, where he became fascinated with the local belief in the "Old Hag", which mirrored his earlier sleep paralysis experience. This led him to question whether the folkloric belief was based solely in cultural beliefs, or whether it was informed by personal experiences. In 1974, he joined the faculty of Penn State University College of Medicine. [1]

Hufford is credited with pioneering "an experience-centered approach to supernatural belief" in ethnographic study. [2] He took the position that the dismissal of folkloric traditions as inherently irrational was ethnocentric. He was a proponent of the idea that any distinction between objective knowledge and subjective "beliefs" should be understood as a value judgement. He described this bias towards folklore in the formula: "What I know I know, what you know you only believe." [3]

His research in the 1970s reassessed previous positions on sleep paralysis and explored its relation to reported paranormal phenomenon. [4] He theorized that the "Old Hag" archetype common to folklore around the world was based on common experiences of sleep paralysis, which tended to manifest in similar ways. [5] In 1983, he published The Terror that Comes in the Night: An Experience-Centered Study of Supernatural Assault Traditions. [6] The book was well received, with praise for Hufford's approach to the ethnography of folklore. [7] [8]

At Penn State, Hufford became chair of Medical Humanities, and professor of Neural & Behavioral Science, and Family & Community Medicine. He left this position in 2007, becoming professor emeritus of Humanities and Psychiatry at Penn State College of Medicine. [9] He is also director of the Doctors Kienle Center for Humanistic Medicine. [10] Hufford is a fellow of the American Folklore Society. [11]

List of works

Books

Pamphlets and book chapters

References

  1. ↑ Morehead, John W. (2013). "From Sleep Paralysis to Spiritual Experience: An Interview with David Hufford". Paranthropology. 4 (3). Archived from the original on 2022-02-27. Retrieved 2022-02-27.
  2. ↑ David, Jonathan C (2001). "Fire in My Bones: Transcendence and the Holy Spirit in African American Gospel (review)" . Journal of American Folklore. 114 (454): 499–500. doi:10.1353/jaf.2001.0028. ISSN   1535-1882. S2CID   161959276. Archived from the original on 2016-05-28. Retrieved 2022-02-27.
  3. ↑ Gatling, Benjamin (2020-07-01). "There Isn't Belief, Just Believing: Rethinking Belief as a Keyword of Folklore Studies" . Journal of American Folklore. 133 (529): 307–328. doi:10.5406/jamerfolk.133.529.0307. ISSN   0021-8715. S2CID   226607481. Archived from the original on 2022-02-27. Retrieved 2022-02-27.
  4. ↑ Hurd, Ryan (2010-09-17). Sleep Paralysis: A Guide to Hypnagogic Visions & Visitors of the Night. Hyena Press. p. 70. ISBN   978-0-9842239-1-6. Archived from the original on 2022-02-27. Retrieved 2022-02-27.
  5. ↑ Hufford, David J. (1995). "Beings Without Bodies: An Experience-Centered Theory of the Belief in Spirits". In Walker, Barbara (ed.). Out Of The Ordinary: Folklore and the Supernatural. University Press of Colorado. pp. 11–45. doi:10.2307/j.ctt46nwn8.6. ISBN   978-0-87421-191-7. JSTOR   j.ctt46nwn8.6. Archived from the original on 2021-09-09. Retrieved 2022-02-27. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  6. ↑ Harrison, Phyllis (1983). "Review of 'The Terror that Comes in the Night: An Experience-Centered Study of Supernatural Assault Traditions' by David J. Hufford". Folklore Forum. ISSN   0015-5926. Archived from the original on 2020-07-19. Retrieved 2022-02-27.
  7. ↑ Ward, Donald; Hufford, David J. (October 1984). "The Terror That Comes in the Night" . Western Folklore. 43 (4): 274. doi:10.2307/1500115. ISSN   0043-373X. JSTOR   1500115 . Retrieved 2022-02-27.
  8. ↑ Wattanagun, Kanya (2017). "Book Review The Terror That Comes in the Night: An Experience-Centered Study of Supernatural Assault Traditions". Manusya: Journal of Humanities. 20 (1): 93–94. doi: 10.1163/26659077-02401011 . S2CID   237867447.
  9. ↑ "David Hufford". The Religious Studies Project. Archived from the original on 2021-04-12. Retrieved 2022-02-27.
  10. ↑ "University of Pennsylvania – Folklore and Folklife". www.sas.upenn.edu. Archived from the original on 2021-11-04. Retrieved 2022-02-27.
  11. ↑ "AFS Fellows". The American Folklore Society. Archived from the original on 2022-02-15. Retrieved 2022-02-27.
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