Past Events
Video: TWP&F: Planting for a Greater Community: Conversation with Rebecca McMackin
This talk asks: how do we think about designing public spaces with human and nonhuman needs in mind? Why does it matter to plant for native species? How do our horticulture choices intersect with equity and social justice? Why does thinking about...
Video: PFR: Book Talk: "Blotter: The Untold Story of an Acid Medium" with Erik Davis
On April 30, 2024, The CSWR hosted Dr. Erik Davis for a conversation on his new book, Blotter: The Untold Story of an Acid Medium. Blotter is the first account of its kind, centering the history, art, and design of the iconic drug delivery device for...
Video: Swami Medhananda, A Hindu Vision of Religious Cosmopolitanism: Theologizing with Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda
The Center’s “Hindu View of Life Annual Lecture” evokes the memory of Dr. Radhakrishnan’s book of that title, which is comprised of his well-known 1926 lectures on “Religious Experience,” “The Conflict of Religions,” and two lectures on “Hindu Dharma.”...
Video: Spring Poetry Reading and Q&A with Poet Jane Miller
On April 17, 2024, poet Jane Miller presented works from her collection Paper Banners, published in 2023 with Copper Canyon Press, and from more recent work inspired by the editors of Peripheries Journal. Jane Miller is the author of thirteen books of...
Video: Bioethics, Legal Ethics, and Ethics of Care: An introduction to psychedelics and ethics
This event launched the CSWR and the Petrie-Flom Center's new “Psychedelics & Ethics” initiative, which brings together interdisciplinary scholars and practitioners to explore ethical questions surrounding psychedelics. The series seeks to create a forum...
Video: Magic in the United States. A conversation with Dr. Heather Freeman
Gnoseologies host Giovanna Parmigiani speaks with Heather Freeman about her podcast Magic in the United States and the personal and professional journey behind it. Magic in the United States is a podcast examining how magic, religion, spirituality, and...
Video: Wisdom from the Edge: A Conversation with Anthropologist Paul Stoller
In this conversation with Gnoseologies host Dr. Giovanna Parmigiani, Paul Stoller discusses his latest book, Wisdom From the Edge in which he describes what scholars can do to contribute to the social and cultural changes that shape a social future of...
Audio: Pop Apocalypse: Ecstatic Knowledge and the Study of Religion featuring Jeffrey Kripal
For episode five of the pod, we are honored to welcome Jeffrey J. Kripal, J. Newton Rayzor Chair of Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University. In this career-spanning chat, we discuss Kripal’s Catholic upbringing, psychoanalysis, and the...
Video: Catholicism as Movement: Affective Histories & Political Life Forms, Dr. Valentina Napolitano
Gnoseologies host, Dr. Giovanna Parmigiani engaged in conversation with Dr. Valentina Napolitano on themes of contemporary Catholicism, focusing on the "Atlantic Return", Pope Francis and migrants' (im)mobility highlighting the "heart" as political...
Audio: Pop Apocalypse: Inside the Mind of a Spirit Channel – A Conversation with Paul Selig
For our sixth episode, we welcome the spirit channel, teacher, and playwright Paul Selig. In this conversation, we explore Selig’s early career as a playwright and professor, his spiritual awakening during the Harmonic Convergence of 1987, how he...
Video: We Cannot Imagine Otherwise: Capitalist Personalities, Plotlines, & Promises of Salvation, Dr. Andrea Jain
In conversation with Gnoseologies host, Dr. Giovanna Parmigiani, Dr. Andrea Jain, expands the boundaries of what currently counts as “knowledge” starting with diagnosing the social systemic dynamics that shape what we can and cannot imagine. In this talk...
Video: Psychedelic Intersections: Psychedelic Spirituality and Medicine Panel, February 17, 2024
Psychedelic Spirituality and Medicine Panel, Psychedelic Intersections Conference, February 17, 2024 Panelists include: Sharaday Mosurinjohn, Queens University, 'Psychedelic Medicine, Panpsychism, and Theodicy', Victoria Litman, POPLAR at the Petri-Flom...
Video: Psychedelic Intersections: Psychedelic Spirituality and the Underground II February 17, 2024
In this conference breakout, the following panelists participated: Rachel Harris, Author, Swimming in the Sacred and Listening to Ayahuasca ,“Swimming in the Sacred”. Michelle Lhooq, Journalist & Author, WEED: Everything You Want to Know But Are Always...
Video: Conversation with Dr. Luis Eduardo Luna about the Science and Philosophy of Plant Intelligence
Dr. Luis Eduardo is the Director of Wasiwaska, a research center in Brazil for the study of psychointegrator plants, visionary art and consciousness. On February 16, 2024, Dr. Luna presented about ethnobotanical research at his Center, learning with and...
Video: Peripheries Launch Event 2023
On the evening of November 30, 2023, the much-anticipated event celebrating the launch of Peripheries, the Center for the Study of World Religions’s (CSWR) annual literary and arts journal, unfolded with a blend of poetry, music, and art, drawing over 140...
Video: Enheduanna: Voicing the Feminine Divine Presentation and Musical Performance
On December 12, 2023, the CSWR hosted a special evening celebrating the life and writings of Enheduana, also En-hedu-Ana; (c. twenty-third century B.C.E.) who is the first named author in human history. Enheduana, an Akkadian princess and daughter of King...
Video: Psychedelics and the Future of Religion: Mescaline and Psychonauts with Mike Jay
As part of the Psychedelics and the Future of Religion series, the Center for the Study of World Religions presented an interview with author Mike Jay about his two most recent books, Psychonauts: Drugs and the Making of the Modern Mind, and Mescaline: A...
Video: Psychedelics and Philosophy: Metaphysics and Meaning-Making in Psychedelia
As part of the Psychedelics and the Future of Religion series, the Center for the Study of World Religions hosted scholars Drs. Christine Hauskeller and Peter Sjostedt-Hughes. Philosophers Prof. Hauskeller and Dr. Sjöstedt-Hughes present a multi...
Video: Psychedelics and the Future of Religion: Expanding Mindscapes with Erika Dyck and Christian Elcock
As part of the Psychedelics and the Future of Religion Series CSWR Research Assistants, Jeffrey Breau and Paul Gillis-Smith engage in conversation with Erika Dyck and Christian Elcock to discuss their new book, Expanding Mindscapes. In this conversation...
Video: Keith Edward Cantú, PhD, Like a Tree Universally Spread Sri Sabhapati Swami and Śivarājayoga
On November 15, 2023, author and CSWR Research Affiliate, Transcendence and Transformation Database, Keith Cantu discussed with a panel of respondents his book, Like a Tree Universally Spread Sri Sabhapati Swami and Śivarājayoga. Three respondents are...
