Professor of what?

[Luciaphile]

I don't think it's ever said exactly what T. Eliot Stokes is a professor of.

Yeah, yeah, he's got the interest in the occult, but generally speaking those people aren't advisors of graduate students studying to be teachers.  Since Cassandra tells us she was studying to be a "teacher," that lets out anything in the professorial field (five minutes in the groves of academe and she would know the difference, it's that ingrained), so presumably she was pursuing a career as a secondary school teacher.  I can't see him in the Education department, and I suppose she could be getting a subject Masters . . .

So where does that place him?  History?  English?  He doesn't go into the field so not anthropology or archaeology.  

Any ideas?

Luciaphil

[Raineypark]

Sociology.....that was a required course at my university and a catch-all, "What the hell?" course of study if I ever saw one!!

Rainey

[The charming Mr. Blair]

My guess: T. Eliot Stokes, Professor of Semiology.
I see him as a man who has made a study of reading signs and omens in varioius states of nature -- whether it is the contrast of shadows as the morning suns reflects off the Old House, or the nuances in the sounds of the birds in the trees surrounding Collinwood. Professor Stokes is attune with the metaphysical aspects of reality.  
He may, very well be able to answer Julia Hoffman's great retorical question, "What does this mean"? ?!?

[Gothick]

Luciaphil, My own sense is that stokes is a plain old Professor of English.  In the old days, people who did English often had all sorts of "esoteric" side interests--think of Dame Frances Yates, for instance.  

He taught at Rockport College, which I seriously doubt had anything like a real grad program.  Cassandra was probably pretending to go for some sort of teaching certificate.  Don't forget btw that Cassandra lies more naturally than she combs her hair (MUCH more naturally, come to think of it, looking at her hair) AND the poor dear was never terribly competent so we can't expect her story to stand up to much probing.

Best,

Gothick

[Bob_the_Bartender]

Hey gang,

I thought that the venerable T. Elliot Stokes was a professor of parapsychology.  (That specific academic program must be as "rigorous" as the one some of my friends had when they were "urban studies" majors in college.  And that's why some of them made "Who's Who" for college academic "excellence.")

You know, I don't believe that we ever learned the actual name of Prof. Stokes' institution of higher learning.  In any event, the school's administration was apparently very liberal in providing the good professor with time off to pursue his supernatural research/investigations.

It would have been great fun to have seen Prof. Stokes lecturing to a class of freshmen students featuring Carolyn Stoddard, Maggie Evans, Harry Johnson, the Eagle Hill Cemetery Caretaker (the school's oldest freshman student!) and the group's class clown, Edwin "Buzz" Hackett!

Sincerely,

Bob the Bartender, who yawns when he recalls those dreary, soporific evening classes (a sure cure for insomnia!).

[Philippe Cordier]

I like all of these responses, and I would have loved to have seen Prof. Stokes as an English professor (having pursued a graduate degree in that field myself), but I vote for Bob's professor of parapsychology.

Although English types are certainly very interesting people   , everyone I can think of in the field tended to be rather coldly rational, nonbeliever types.  Yes, I know, I know, there were the Yates and Sayers and Tolkiens and C. S. Lewises, but that was in ages gone by.  (Though they actually were still active in the late 60s, so I guess that's still possible.)

Semiotics -- I think that's the same as what SonofBarnabas refers to -- now that's a great thought, thinking of Umberto Eco with "Foucault's Pendulum," but again I sense a professional distance from the subject that's very different from Stokes' very personal interest (and involvement?) in occult matters.

There were universities back in the 1960s (or at least "research arms" of universities, the best known of which was affiliated with a certain California institution I attended) that had parapsychology departments.  I believe these departments were offshoots of the psychology departments.  That really sounds like the perfect match for Prof. Stokes, though I'm certain he's very knowledgeable about history and all of the liberal arts.

This was a great question and responses to read -- my earlier thoughts were that here was another example of DS "veering off from reality."  But parapsychology actually sounds like a realistic possibility.

Cheers to Prof. Stokes!  What fascinating discussions one might have had over sherry in a tutorial with him ...

(And now back to my own academic assignments ... papers that were actually due for a class last December, but which I've not found time to work on since then   )

[Philippe Cordier]

I just read through everyone's responses again (more carefully this time) and noticed the mention of Rockport College. That always sounded like a community college sort of place to me; if so, it's doubtful that they would have had a parapsychology research department.  But then, would a community college be able to offer teaching licensure?  Rockport College could be what used to be called a "teachers' college."  Or maybe Cassandra actually is pursuing a higher academic degree; she could still have referred to herself as intending to be a "teacher" -- not everyone is familiar with exactly what someone with a Ph.D. does.

And who knows -- I believe that near-death and historic paranormal researcher Raymond Moody is associated with a very small college somewhere in the South, so it is still possible Prof. Stokes could be in a similar role at a small college in Maine.

?!?

[Linda]

So where does that place him?  History?  English?  He doesn't go into the field so not anthropology or archaeology.  

Any ideas?

History seems the most plausible choice, since it's a pretty broad field.  Time periods and events that he studied might have triggered his interest in other areas -- such as the occult -- and he could have pursued that knowledge independently, simply because he found it intriguing.

Cheers,

Linda

[Philippe Cordier]

Thinking that the real-life Dr. Raymond Moody, whom I mentioned above, might be a current version of Prof. Stokes, I did some quick checking on Moody.  He originally got his Ph.D. in philosophy and later his medical license and specialization in psychiatry.

Prof. Stokes could conceivably have trained in philosophy, or maybe psychology, and branched off into parapsychology.

Dr. Moody's interest in recent years has been "facilitated communication" with clients wishing to contact their departed loved ones by use of a  psychomanteum, a darkened room with a mirror.  (Actually, that sounds like what some girls in my elementary school tried in the girl's bathroom -- they turned the lights out and swore they saw a shape appear in the mirror.)  The practice is supposed to go back to ancient Greece and Egypt.  I remember reading an article about Moody's Institute in a remote Southern town, which made me think that Stokes could be in a similar role in a small town in Maine.

Stokes obviously is well-known for his expertise in the paranormal regardless of his official academic affiliation.

[Philippe Cordier]

I can't see him in the Education department

I can't either.  People in Education Departments are simply not that interesting!

Speaking from experience ...



PLEASE, SOMEONE, STOP ME!!!

-Vlad, King of Procrastinators  

[kuanyin]

Sociology.....that was a required course at my university and a catch-all, "What the hell?" course of study if I ever saw one!!

Rainey

Some how that just sounds perfect to me!

[Bob_the_Bartender]

Hey gang,

Maybe Prof. Stokes was a former classmate at some point of Harvard psychiatrist, Dr. Steven Mack, M.D.  You know, the doctor who hypnotizes people to investigate their claims of alien abduction.

Come to think of it, the good Dr. Mack may have been a classmate/colleague of Dr. Julia Hoffman, M.D.  I can just see Julia using that over-sized medallion of hers on some of Dr. Mack's abductees/patients.  

Of course, Dr. Hoffman would also consult with her other colleague, Dr. Eric Lang, about those strange physical marks found on the abductees' bodies after an "encounter" with E.T.'s during some weird surgical procedure conducted somewhere up there in the Pleiades.

Bob the Bartender, who wonders if Agents Sculley and Moulder will have a close encounter of the third kind with "Buzz" Hackett at the conclusion of the X-Files?

[jennifer]

liberal arts!
but i think it is History like Linda!
sometimes i wonder did the writers have some sixth sense about the future and know this show would be
talked about years later so they left a lot of unanswered
questions that we are still debating about years later!
Kinda of like The Jennings brothers some think they were twins , others not, but it is never stated one way or another in the plot!
Makes for a lot of fun debate !

jennifer

[Philippe Cordier]

liberal arts!
but i think it is History like Linda!

I would say history or philosophy over sociology.  Again, Prof. Stokes seems too interesting a character to have devoted his studies to graphs, charts, infrastructures, ethnic data, etc.  Am probably revealing my own bias here as to what's interesting ...

Maybe he majored in history or philosophy as an undergraduate, and then went on to psychology/parapsychology in his graduate and post-graduate work.  Rockford College has given him a small lab and office to pursue psychical research. Cassandra Blair/Collins plans to become a teacher but is also pursuing studies in philosophy and psychology.

If Stokes' background had been in English literature, I would have expect him to have quoted Shakespeare or some other poet by now.  (They could have had him recite "Dover Beach" rather than Roger.)

I just saw Minja's post in the other thread which provides more food for thought. Stokes might well have studied comparative religions -- especially ancient religions, where magical practices played a big part.  I would also expect him to be knowledgeable of mythology (good one, Minja   ).  What department did Joseph Campbell teach in at Sarah Lawerence?  Religion?

[Philippe Cordier]

I thought I had pretty much exhausted my thoughts on the question of what Professor Stokes teaches, but a few lines in last Friday's episode(s) provided more grist for the mill ...

When Stokes forced Barnabas (or was it Julia Hoffman?) to tell him who the witch was, he was both shocked -- and yet not completely surprised -- when he learned that Cassandra Collins is the witch.  "For my own personal reasons," he said (or words to that effect).

What were these personal reasons?  What exactly was their relationship?

It was revealed that Roger Collins met Cassandra at a party at Stokes' house (note: not apartment, as I had assumed in my previous viewing).  It is possible that Stokes is merely Cassandra's academic advisor, but I think there is more to their relationship than that, though this is never explained.

For a number of reasons, I believe that Stokes has attempted to psychoanalyze Cassandra, either formally or informally.  That is why he is both surprised, yet not surprised, to find out that she is a practitioner of witchcraft.  He has seen something hidden in her character that he didn't previously understand, which he had been unable to identify, but now the pieces fit together.

I think the background knowledge of the writers concerning Stokes is that he is trained as a Jungian analyst (in addition to his Ph.D.).

Earlier I explained my rationale for seeing Stokes as a psychologist who has branched off into parapsychology.

The Jungian element would explain his knowledge of dreams, symbolism, and culture in general.  Jungians are extensively involved in art and symbols, myth and religion, and dream analysis.  Like Prof. Stokes, Carl Jung was very open to -- and involved with -- the world of the occult and the supernatural.  Dream interpretation, at least today, is the sole purveyance of Jungian and Freudian analysts in the psychology field (it has pretty much been discounted my mainstream academic psychologists).  There is no evidence that Stokes is a Freudian (no talk about Oedipus complexes, penis envy, etc.  ), but he definitely has a Jungian worldview.

Julia stated to Barnabas that she had gone to Stokes because she thought he could help her understand her dream.

Stokes' background as a Jungian psychologist also fits nicely with the whole idea of a dream curse.

(I missed six episodes last week, so I wonder if I missed other important clues.)

*  *  *  *

BTW, the dream curse scans perfectly as poetry -- in fact, it's a little too metrical, resulting in the sing-song quality one finds in much amateur poetry.  The four lines scan as four feet, five feet, four feet, and five feet, regular iambic for the most part, with trochees in the final foot of the first two lines.  The final line wisely varies the regularity of the meter.