The Spectacular Showing: Houdini and the Wonder of Ethnomethodology

This essay is about Houdini's escapes and ethnomethodology's studies. By accomplishing what appears to be impossible, Houdini leaves his audience considering not only how did he manage to do that, but also just what is it that we consider to be possible. Magicians and escapologists warn us off an interest in the mechanics of their tricks that might spoil the thrill of what they dramatically present to us: a sense of the limits to what we can apprehend as an audience. While marking out the differences in their projects, this essay brings out the shared urge of escapologists and ethnomethodologists to question our senses, open members to particular phenomena, and awaken us to the wonder of the world. In reflecting on what happens when magicians reveal the devices that constitute their tricks, I ask whether the purpose of studying methodologies can only reside in revealing how they are practically produced as intelligible actions. What more might ethnomethodology's invitation be?