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In the Realm of the Extraordinary
Four researchers with backgrounds in clinical and developmental psychology, cultural and social anthropology and musicology present their work on extraordinary, anomalous experiences (a term similar to that of altered states of consciousness) in the context of mental health. The symposium is interdisciplinary in its approach and forms part of a project supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) on the modes and function of spirit possession (T525-‐G17).
Photo and organization: Yvonne Schaffler e-‐mail: [email protected]
KEYNOTE LECTURE
In the framework of the “Wednesday Seminars”, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology ( IKSA), University of Vienna
Etzel Cardeña, Lund University, Sweden
In the Realm of the Extraordinary: Anomalous Experience from Psychological and Cross-‐Cultural Perspectives
Some anomalous phenomena such as mystical and hallucinatory experiences have radically transformed both individuals and groups throughout history. At the beginning of psychology as an independent discipline, William James proposed a discipline that would investigate the panoply of human experiences and grounded on his “radical empiricism,” without the assumption that they were indicators of dysfunction. Although this and similar proposals were ignored later, they have recently resurfaced. I will review recent etic and emic studies showing that anomalous experiences are an essential part of human experience.
Symposium: In the Realm of the Extraordinary: Anomalous Experience from Psychological and
Cross-‐Cultural Perspectives
1th – 2th of June 2016
NIG, 4 th f loor, Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology ( IKSA), University of Vienna
Schnittstelle für ethnomedizinischen Austausch & interkulturellen Kontakt
PROGRAMME
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1th
NIG, 4th f loor, IKSA, HS C
17:00 Etzel Cardeña, Lund University, Sweden
In the Realm of the Extraordinary: Anomalous Experience from Psychological and Cross-‐Cultural Perspectives
Abstract: See above -‐ Keynote Lecture in the framework of the IKSA Wednesday Seminars
Etzel Cardeña is the Thorsen Professor of Psychology at Lund University, Sweden where he is Director of the Centre for Research on Consciousness and Anomalous Psychology (CERCAP). Cardeña has held academic posts at Stanford University, Georgetown University, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) and the University of Texas–Pan American, among others. He has served as President of the Society of Psychological Hypnosis (APA Division 30), the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, and the Parapsychological Association. His edited book "Varieties of Anomalous Experience: Examining the Scientific Evidence" published in 2000, with a second edition in 2014, covers the psychology of anomalous experiences. His two volumes Altering Consciousness discusses the importance of altered states across history, culture, and in many disciplines including philosophy, anthropology, psychology, biology, the arts, literature, and others.
19.00 Informal Dinner, Restaurant Roth
Thursday, JUNE 2th
NIG, 4th f loor, IKSA, SE-‐Raum D
16:00 Bernd Brabec de Mori, University of Music and Performing Arts, Graz, Austr ia
A ltered States as Modes of Acquir ing Knowledge among Lowland South American Indigenous People
Abstract: Among traditionally living indigenous as well as mestizo people in the western Amazonian lowlands, knowledge is treated as an item that has to be acquired, negotiated and can be lost, much like a substance or an object. For in the field of music, one cannot “know” a song at the same time as being “unable to perform” it: one can only express “I know this song” if one is practically able to perform it in a more or less beautiful manner according to local aesthetics. Knowledge, in indigenous collectives, is therefore closely related to control of the environment. The most effective way for obtaining knowledge/ability is to “do a diet”. This means that the person to learn ingests some preparation of mostly plant (sometimes animal or anorganic) material each day for a variable span of time and at the same time obeys a set of taboos (most basic: not to eat pork and not to have sex; most sophisticated: only to drink water and to eat grilled banana without salt, not to see other people, and even not to leave your mosquito net). During that span of time, and with growing intensity towards the end, the “dieter” is expected to have dreams, daytime visions, and auditory perceptions containing relevant information exchange; e.g. one dreams of the “owners” of the plant ingested who teach a magical song, hand over a magical item, or the like. The “dieter” therefore obtains “objects” within an altered state provoked by prolonged abstinence. A “diet” for obtaining the means to be an efficient healer may, for example, extend up to three years. This ethnographic panorama provides a base for theorizing knowledge, abilities, and power among these collectives (and possibly elsewhere): the world of spirits, plants, and animal “owners” holds the key for knowledge and power, and can be accessed only by the means of arduously provoked altered states of perception and cognition (ASPC). Bernd Brabec de Mori received his doctorate in musicology from the University of Vienna. He specialized in indigenous music from the Ucayali valley in Eastern Peru, where he spent five years among the indigenous group Shipibo-‐Konibo. Since 2006, he has been working at the Phonogrammarchiv, Vienna, and later as a research and teaching assistant at the Centre for Systematic Musicology in Graz. He is currently employed as senior scientist at the Institute of Ethnomusicology, University of Music and Performing Arts, Graz. He is the author of Die Lieder der Richtigen Menschen (Songs of the Real People, 2015), editor of The Human and Non-‐human in Lowland South American Indigenous Music (2013), and co-‐editor of Sudamérica y sus mundos audibles. Cosmologías y prácticas sonoras de los pueblos indígenas (2015, with Matthias Lewy and Miguel A. García). His publications contribute to the research areas of indigenous music, arts, and history as well as the complex of music, ritual, and altered states.
16:30 Discussion
16:40 Sophie Rei jman, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Developmental Pathways to Altered States of Consciousness
Abstract: As people go through the developmental stages of life, their propensity to experience certain altered states of consciousness (ASCs) changes. For instance, the adolescent is more likely to experience ASCs connected to sexual discovery and experimenting with psychoactive drugs. While certain ASCs are benign or even greatly enriching, there are traumatic events in early childhood that increase a person's risk for pathological ASCs. In this regard, I will focus on the link between disorganized attachment in infancy and the experience of dissociative states later in life. Sophie Rei jman completed her PhD at the Centre for Child and Family Studies, Leiden University. She conducted her doctoral study on psychophysiological risk factors for child maltreatment by measuring stress reactivity of the autonomic nervous system in a sample of abusive and/or neglectful mothers. In addition she assessed mothers’ attachment representation, that is, their state of mind toward the relationship with their parents and regarding potentially traumatic experiences. She is a certified coder of the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). 17:10 Discussion 17:20 Coffee Break 17:50 Yvonne Schaff ler, Medical University of Vienna, Austr ia
“Wild” Spir it Possession as Id iom of Distress in the Dominican Republ ic
Abstract: In Dominican Vodou, spirit possession is a socially sanctioned expression of spiritual contact and an important element of ritual healing. For a fraction of the possessed individuals, however, possession also functions as an idiom if distress. In such case, possession is characterized by the inability to control the moment of possession or by violent possession behavior. In emic terms, afflictive possession is the result of inexperience (caballo lobo), particularly by a certain subset of spirits, or spiritual punishment (castigo). The analysis of biographical interviews revealed that individuals with past or present marked afflictive possession tended to have experienced stress processes such as on-‐going domestic violence, loss, extreme poverty, discrimination or a lack of perspective. Among the circumstances that
reinforced symptoms of involuntary or violent possession are a hostile and stressful social environment and attempts of healers or members of evangelical congregations to ritually cast out the “demons”. Successful coping strategies consisted in interpreting symptoms as possession by the spirits of Vodou and subsequent cult induction.
Yvonne Schaff ler obtained her doctorate in cultural and social anthropology from the University of Vienna with her doctoral thesis focusing on medical pluralism in the Dominican Republic. Her studies have been financed through scholarships, teachings at the University of Vienna and the Medical University of Vienna and project work. The latter consisted in scientific and technical editing of films on healing rituals and was financed by the Jubiläumsfonds of the Austrian National Bank (OeNB) and a Hertha Firnberg-‐Grant dedicated to "Spirit Possession: Modes and Function", financed by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). Her publications contribute to the field of medical anthropology and mental health in cross-‐cultural perspective.
18:20 Discussion 19:ü00 Informal Dinner, Weltcafé
