Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness

Student Mentoring, Q&A
2022-11-04 12:00 - 13:30 (America/Vancouver) | Zoom, United States
Students and folks on the job market, please bring your questions about school, writing, job application questions, and any other questions that you feel could help you prepare both professionally and academically.
Graduates and Faculty, please consider attending this event that supports future and young scholars.
Registration is required.
Registration closes on the Thursday before the event at 5:00 Pacific Time.
Please register for these events at aocgeneral@gmail.com

Distinguished Lecture: Sacred Geography
2022-11-10 20:30 - 22:30 (America/New_York)
Professor Wade Davis
BC Leadership Chair in Cultures and Ecosystems at Risk
Professor of Anthropology
University of British Columbia
This presentation celebrates a myriad of cultures that through ritual practice infuse life with a sense of the sacred, even as they honour reciprocal obligations that define their relationship to the natural world. These rituals may involve movement through mystic space, pilgrimages that involve separation from the social space, a passage through a liminal dimension, and a final reintegration to the community. They may feature metaphysical journeys to the divine, mediated by sacred plants, or encounters with objects in a landscape made holy through generations of desire, like old tools warm from decades of human touch. These include sacred mountains, venerated trees, holy waters, ritual caves, and healing springs, as well as places of deep memory where ancient art and human activity resonate with spiritual authority; what the Irish describe as the thin places, where heaven and earth come together to reveal glimpses of the divine. Movement through sacred geography, rites of passage, prayer, healing, mystical union, and devotion. The goal ultimately is to reveal what these traditions have to say to the world, and how they might contribute to what is so desperately needed today — an utterly new dream of the Earth.

Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness 40th Annual Conference
2023-04-27 08:00 - 2023-04-29 17:00 (America/New_York) | The Chrysalis Inn & Spa in Bellingham, WA, 804 10th St, Bellingham,, WA, 98225, United States
Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness 40th Annual Conference
Death and Transformation
April 27-29, 2023
The Chrysalis Inn & Spa in Bellingham, WA
Proposal Submission: https://forms.gle/woQt4HR8ZecmrWvW6Conference Registration: https://my.americananthro.org/nc__event?id=a0l8W00000ZhMDQQA3
The Program Committee for the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness invites members and their collaborators to investigate how we engage with communities concerning death, dying, and transformation. We chose this theme to reflect upon the individual and collective experiences with death (in all its forms) and the experience of transformation. The theme of Death and Transformation points to the context and social climate in which we currently live: many of us – if not all of us – are seeing many of our lifeways and habits dissolve and metamorphosizing into forms that are unexpected, unanticipated, and difficult to ascertain. As anthropologists and consciousness researchers, we understand that we need to provide containers for each other so that we may be of support to each other during such a collective liminal time. Therefore, we invite presenters to reflect and engage with subjects related to death, dying, near-death experiences, death-care, ancestral healing, transformation, and ecological collapse. We consider this conference an opportunity to build networks for collective engagement, restorative practices, healing, and reconciliation.
We continue to welcome works that explore practices that might provide transformational learning and opportunities for collective action. We also welcome members, collaborators, and those new to the conference to engage in discussions related to exploring consciousness in all lived experiences, both human and non-human consciousness.
Potential topics for paper, panel proposals, pre-recorded events, short films, art, and workshops include but are not limited to:

Death and/or near-death experiences (NDEs)
Dreams and death
The deadly and/or transformative effects of COVID-19
Ecological collapse and/or transformation through wildfires and flooding
Voices of youth and subaltern amidst ecological disruption and change
“Slow” deaths through capitalist mechanisms such as worker exploitation
Death work and workers that support the dying in various ways
Explorations of what a ‘good death’ is
Grief processing
End-of-life processes and reflections
Ancestors and our relationships with those who have died
Funerary and burial practices

Workshops, Experientials, and Art
We also invite submissions of artistic works and experiential workshops exploring or cultivating consciousness, specifically those that relate to the conference theme. We aim to build bridges across scholastic and creative communities and provide opportunities for personal and professional growth.
Prerecorded Content Gallery
Do you have a short film, a podcast episode, a prerecorded panel discussion, or other academic or artistic work that you feel aligns with our conference theme? Will this pre-recorded media work as an integral part of our online gallery that will be live for the entire conference? Reach out and let us know. We can accommodate several different formats, and they need not be limited to academic projects or those with a decidedly anthropological lens. We are an interdisciplinary organization and are seeking content from a variety of different perspectives. The closer to the communities most affected by death in all its forms, including ecological upheaval, the better.
Registration Instructions

Proposals and questions regarding workshops, and special events should be submitted by April 3rd, 2023 to: aocgeneral@gmail.com, Acceptance notifications will be sent by April 10th.

To submit your proposal, please visit the online submission portal here: https://forms.gle/woQt4HR8ZecmrWvW6.

Meeting registration is required and must be completed by the submission deadline for your proposal(s) to be considered. To register before the April 3 submission deadline, please visit the AAA website here: https://my.americananthro.org/nc__event?id=a0l8W00000ZhMDQQA3.

If your submission is not accepted, you may request a refund of your registration fees.

For more information, please contact: John Baker, AC President: JohnBaker@vcccd.edu

About the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness:
The Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness (AC), a section of the American Anthropological Association (AAA), is an interdisciplinary association of anthropologists, psychologists, mythologists, archaeologists, sociologists, and like-minded scholar-practitioners united by a common interest in the study of consciousness from an anthropological perspective. Learn more at https://sac.americananthro.org and join the association at https://www.americananthro.org.

SPECIAL EVENTS (list still updating) Friday, April 28:
Fairhaven Gore & Lore History Tour by the Good Time Girls
Start time: 8:00pm (Please plan to arrive 15 minutes before.)
Meeting location: Meet at the Fairhaven Village Green behind Village Books (1207 10th St, Bellingham, WA 98225.)
Explore the spooky side of Fairhaven, Bellingham’s south-side shopping district and “haunted hot-spot.” Hear ghost stories, true crime tales and spooky local lore with a costumed guide. This tour lasts a little over 1 hour and distance is under 1 mile. PG-13 suggested for violent, gory, and potentially scary topics.
TOURISM INFORMATION
Bellingham Tourism Information: https://www.bellingham.org
HOTEL INFORMATION
Host Hotel – Chrysalis Inn Hotel & Spa in Bellingham, WA: https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/blittqq-the-chrysalis-inn-and-spa-bellingham/
Other Accommodations: https://admissions.wwu.edu/visit/accommodations
TRAVEL INFORMATION
Bellingham International Airport (Recommended)

Bellingham Airport is about 11 miles from the host hotel.

Recommend Taxi, Uber, or Lyft to the hotel. If your flight is on a Sunday, very early in the morning, or late at night, we recommend reserving a ride to the airport in a taxi in advance.
Seattle Tacoma International Airport
Sea-Tac Airport can be reached from Bellingham using a variety of options:

Car Rental.
Airporter Shuttle provides direct service between Bellingham and Sea-Tac airport.

Public transit, Greyhound and Amtrak can be used with a transfer to Link Light Rail in Seattle. The Link light rail travels to Sea-Tac airport.

The Port of Seattle operates Sea-Tac Airport. Information regarding the airport can be found on their website, portseattle.org/Sea-Tac.

Bellair Charters / Airporter

The Bellair Airporter Shuttle provides service multiple times daily between Bellingham and SeaTac airport, plus many other destinations including eastern Washington.

The Airporter Shuttle can be boarded any day at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel, 714 Lakeway Drive (next to Fred Meyer), with convenient connections to WWU via WTA bus, and Taxi/Uber/Lyft. Please note that due to the coronavirus pandemic the Airporter Shuttle is not stopping on campus. Typically, the Airporter picks up on the WWU Campus at the Performing Arts Center on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays with extended service on holidays and breaks.
FlixBus

FlixBus offers intercity bus connections to Vancouver BC, Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Portland, Eugene, and more. Catch the FlixBus then travel to the hotel.

Amtrak Cascades Train

Amtrak Cascades provides daily service between Bellingham, Vancouver BC and points south to Eugene. The Amtrak Station is located at the Fairhaven Transportation Center, 401 Harris Avenue.

Greyhound Bus

Catch a Greyhound bus to travel down the I-5 corridor and to eastern Washington. The Greyhound bus station is located at the Fairhaven Transportation Center, 401 Harris Avenue, Bellingham, then travel to the hotel.

Washington State Ferries

Ferries provide service to/from multiple points around the Puget Sound, San Juan Islands, and Vancouver Island. wsdot.wa.gov/ferries

Please see our flyer for the conference below.
AAC 2023 Conference Program FINAL

Psychedelic Renaissance? What’s the Buzz? with Lisa Gezon
2023-05-05 12:00 - 13:30 (America/Vancouver) | Zoom, United States
Join Professor Lisa Gezon (University of Alabama, Birmingham) on a conversation about shifting conversations about psychedelics and their uses in contemporary contexts for self-actualization, mental health therapy, and other forms of ritual and healing. How do experiences vary based on demographics and geography? Are experiences of traditionally marginalized populations different in any noteworthy ways? What do anthropologists have to contribute to that interdisciplinary conversation? Gezon will begin with an overview of her current research on psychedelic integration groups. This topic is a preview of conversations we hope to continue at the AAA in November.

The Consciousness Program at Goddard College with Hillary Webb
2023-09-08 12:00 - 13:30 (America/Vancouver) | Zoom, United States
(Second Friday due to Labor Day weekend)

Psychedelic Research Through the Lens of Ritual Initiation with Reed A. Morrison
2023-10-06 12:00 - 13:30 (America/Vancouver) | Zoom, United States

The Evolved Psychology of Psychedelic Set and Setting: Inferences Regarding the Roles of Shamanism and Entheogenic Ecopsychology with Michael James Winkelman
2023-11-03 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Los_Angeles)

Tarantismo in Italy with Maria Teresa Fiumerodo
2023-12-01 12:00 - 13:30 (America/Vancouver) | Zoom, United States

Teaching Consciousness at Goddard College with Hillary Webb
2024-01-12 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Los_Angeles)

Spring 2024 Annual Meeting
2024-04-06 09:00 - 2024-04-10 17:00 (America/New_York) | Embassy Suites by Hilton St. Louis ~ St. Charles Hotel, Two Convention Center Plaza,, St. Charles, MO, 63303, United States
Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness 41st Annual ConferenceEmbassy Suites by Hilton St. Louis ~ St. Charles HotelTwo Convention Center Plaza, St. Charles, MO 63303
The Program Committee for the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness invites members and their collaborators to investigate how we engage with themes of darkness and/or light. Our theme and meeting dates were chosen to coincide with the total solar eclipse, which will come to North America on April 8, 2024. According to space.com, “A total solar eclipse happens when the moon appears the same size in the sky as the sun, or slightly larger, so fully covers the disk of the sun, giving observers a view of the sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona” (https://www.space.com/41552-total-solar-eclipse-2024-guide.html). This event provides opportunities for making connections between consciousness and experiences of lightness and darkness in an array of forms, from literal to metaphorical. It invites us to consider how light and dark may be conceived as binary and yet include nuances such as crepuscular shadows and normally invisible coronal elements. Contributors are invited to draw on a wide range of topics, including, for example, lived experiences of ritual and other collective awakenings, oppression or privilege, (in/ex)clusivity, and healing. We also consider this conference an opportunity to build networks for collective engagement, restorative practices, healing, and reconciliation.

NOTE: We also accept papers that do not directly fit the theme.
We welcome works that explore indigenous and/or plant-based practices that might provide transformational learning and opportunities for collective action. We also welcome members, collaborators, and those new to the conference to engage in discussions related to exploring consciousness in all lived experiences, both human and non-human consciousness. We are also interested in hearing voices representing BIPoC, post-colonial, and other marginalized perspectives (such as those based on gender, sexuality, class, ability, age, etc.)

Click here to See the full 2024 Annual Meeting Call for Papers.

Adding Enhanced Participation to Decipher Huichol Ritual and Shamanic Initiation by Jay Courtney Fikes, PhD
2024-11-01 12:00 - 13:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Zoom, United States
Dr. Fikes has provided the following summary of his presentation:
Reading Carlos Castaneda’s first four books played a significant part in my decision to begin fieldwork in 1976 among the Huichol (Wixarika) living near the ceremonial center of Santa Catarina. See map on my website, http://jayfikes.com/spanish-sobre-el-autor. Dr. Castaneda’s alleged apprenticeship (as described in his first two books) featured three entheogenic plants. One of them, peyote, was collected annually by Huichol temple officers; who walked eleven days to enter Wirikuta, the sacred land where the Sun Father was born, in order to hunt peyote as (if it were) a deer. To understand the meaning and functions of rituals embedded in the Huichol annual ritual cycle I took Castaneda’s advice. Thus eating peyote during their rituals and while visiting sacred sites, became vital to my research. This strategy of “enhanced participation,” led me to complete a pilgrimage in 1986 to a female Kieri, a powerful entheogenic plant in the Solandra genus. Although Kieri has long been defamed as evil by anthropologists who relied solely on hearsay, Note 1, by doing an all night pilgrimage–making offerings and prayers to a divine Kieri – combined with translating the narrative explaining Kieri’s role in creating the first Deer Shaman (Fikes 2021) I learned that Huichol veneration of Kieri preceded collecting peyote–by temple officers making annual peyote pilgrimages which enabled the inhabitants of Santa Catarina to ingest it during their Peyote Dance at the end of each dry season.
After doing 34 years of research with four Huichol shamans, in 2011 Unknown Huichol: Shamans and Immortals, Allies against Chaos, was published. In 2021 I published Beyond Peyote: Kieri and the Huichol Deer Shaman, which is the focus for our Friday seminar.

Exploring the Modern Druid Tradition: Sacred Creativity, Awen, and Nature Connection
2024-12-06 13:30 - 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Zoom, United States
Dr. Dana Driscoll, Indiana University of Pennsylvania USA; Grand Archdruid of the Ancient Order of Druids in America/ This presentation will offer an exploration of creative practices and the “Awen”; in the modern druid tradition, a tradition of nature spirituality inspired by the Ancient Druids and revitalized in the 17th century. Dana will briefly share details about the druid tradition as a whole: rituals, beliefs, the ways in which druids understand consciousness and metaphysics. Then, Dana will offer an exploration into how druids understand the sacred concept of “Awen”, which is defined as flowing inspiration, flow states, and divine creative expression as well as the broader force of
divine creation. While this concept has been studied primarily in the field of psychology as a “Flow state”, Dana will share how druids understand the Awen to be many things: an altered state of consciousness, a spark of insight, a spiritual practice, and something that needs to be carefully cultivated. As both an insider and a social scientist, Dana has a unique perspective on the druid tradition. She will share from her own experiences as well from her studies in the druid tradition (including a large study of 266 druids) and more broadly on her ongoing research on flow states (of non-druids).
