Antípoda. Revista de Antropología y Arqueología

Antipod. Rev. Antropol. Arqueol | eISSN 2011-4273 | ISSN 1900-5407

Parantropología, ¿indisciplina o subdisciplina emergente?: debates sobre las fronteras del conocimiento antropológico

No. 61 (2025-10-31)
  • Luis Muñoz-Villalón
    Universidad de Sevilla, España ‒ Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España
    Identificador ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1727-3828
  • Anastasios Panagiotopoulos
    Universidad de Sevilla, España
    Identificador ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8043-6207
https://doi.org/10.7440/antipoda61.2025.06

Resumen

El objetivo de este artículo es analizar críticamente la parantropología para argumentar que su principal valor no reside en la consolidación de una nueva subdisciplina, sino en su función como indisciplina que revela las fronteras políticas e históricas del conocimiento antropológico. El texto utiliza las investigaciones alrededor de lo paranormal como un caso de estudio para explorar la relación tensa y a menudo silenciada que la antropología ha mantenido con las experiencias anómalas. Metodológicamente, se desarrolla un análisis teórico que parte de una entrevista con el antropólogo Jack Hunter. Su perspectiva se pone en diálogo crítico con diversas corrientes de la antropología contemporánea para deconstruir la aparente marginalidad de lo paranormal y mostrarla, así, como una construcción disciplinar deliberada. Se concluye que esta indisciplina funciona como una apertura metodológica que obliga a superar el falso dilema entre ontología y política. Al tomar en serio la agencialidad parecida pero no idéntica a la humana, la pregunta por el ser se revela como inseparable de la pregunta por el poder. Sostenemos que este enfoque es particularmente relevante en un mundo contemporáneo reencantado, donde la transgresión de las fronteras de la modernidad se convierte en un objeto de estudio fundamental. La originalidad del trabajo radica en trascender la descripción de la parantropología como un campo emergente para ofrecer una reflexión crítica sobre los límites de la propia antropología. El texto aporta una tesis original sobre la política de la ontología y establece conexiones —novedosas para el ámbito académico hispanohablante— entre cuestiones teóricas procedentes de la tradición anglosajona y las sensibilidades etnográficas de América Latina, un campo de reflexión que hasta ahora ha encontrado escasa resonancia en nuestro idioma.

Palabras clave: agencialidad, experiencia anómala, giro ontológico, indisciplina, parantropología, política de la ontología

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