As we bid farewell to 2023, I wish to highlight two outstanding events from the final weeks of the fall semester: the launch of the latest issue of Peripheries, the literary and arts journal published annually by the CSWR; and a celebration of the life and writings of Enheduanna (c. twenty-third century B.C.E.) – Akkadian princess, priestess, and poet, and the first named author in human history. Our focus now shifts to the upcoming spring semester and to what promises to be one of our most enriching and diverse programs yet.
Before I highlight some of our upcoming offerings, I am thrilled to share with you an exciting new initiative, “Thinking with Plants and Fungi.” Over the course of the next 18 months, the initiative will explore and study how plants and fungi help us think differently about mind and matter, and inter-species communication and cooperation. This program is made possible by a generous grant from the V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation. Building on the outstanding work of the “Plant Consciousness” reading group led by Rachael Peterson and Natalia Schwien, it will allow us to expand our programming to include a speaker series, a blog, experiential field trips for Harvard students, and an interdisciplinary academic conference in the Spring of 2025. The Initiative will also fund a postdoctoral fellow position for the academic year 2024-2025.
Now onto our Spring programming! Under the umbrella of “Transcendence and Transformation,” we have a diverse array of events and programs.
Embodied Wisdom takes center stage with three workshops led by: William Robert, Professor of Religion at Syracuse University; and Ayodeji Oggunaike, and Anne Harley, both CSWR Visiting Scholars. The three workshops will explore novel ways of studying religion, spirituality, and the self, by experimenting with embodied pedagogies and practices. I encourage you to delve into the op-ed by Ayodeji, offering a glimpse into the depth of his scholarship and teaching. Ayodeji is also offering a lecture this semester entitled, “What is the Point of Life? Theosis in Yoruba Traditions.”
The intersection of Spirituality and the Arts comes alive again on April 9 with the an event celebrating an anonymous ancient text, The Thunder, Perfect Mind, discovered in Egypt in 1945. This event will feature two original musical compositions, an ensemble of outstanding musicians, and performers, as well as research talks by two eminent scholars. Also, don’t miss the upcoming art exhibition entitled “Framing the Light: Quaker Meetinghouses as Space and Spirit,” showcasing photography by Jean Schnell; please join us for the opening reception on Thursday, January 25, 2024, from 5:30-7:00 pm. The Peripheries poetry series continues to shine with more events featuring such poets as Stephanie Burt on February 8, and Jane Miller, Danny Kraft, and Amanda Gunn later in the semester.
Psychedelics take the spotlight on Feb 17 with our second annual conference, “Psychedelic Intersections: Cross-Cultural Manifestations of the Sacred,” featuring keynote speakers Carl Hart, Professor of Psychology from Columbia University, and Luis Eduardo Luna, Director of the Wasiwaska research institute in Brazil. They will be joined by over 20 speakers, across 6 panels and 2 workshops. The conference will explore topics such as psychedelics and race, Indigenous plant medicine traditions, the psychedelic underground, and questions regarding medicalizatio and regulation.
Within our regular “Psychedelics and the Future of Religion” Series, save April 30 for the event showcasing Erik Davis’s newest book, “Blotter: the Untold Story of an Acid Medium.” We are also launching a new series on “Psychedelics & Ethics” – more details forthcoming!
All of this incredible programming about psychedelics is made possible by the generous gift of the Gracias Family Foundation, and the Harvard’s new Study of Psychedelics in Society and Culture. I want to take a moment to recognize here the invaluable contributions of Paul Gillis-Smith and Jeffrey Breau, both MDiv Students at HDS, leaders of the Harvard Psychedelics Project, and CSWR research assistants. Their leadership has been critical to the success and expansion of our programming around psychedelics and religion.
The Gnoseologies series will host new talks on new topics, including a presentation by Giovanna Parmigiani, the series’ creator and facilitator, about her own research and publications.
Our commitment to Reading Groups remains steadfast. This semester, in addition to the ongoing groups on “Plant Consciousness” and “Psychedelics: the Sacred and Subversive,” we are introducing a new one “Microdosing Zarathustra,” led by our postdoctoral fellows, Nick Low and Russ Powell. This reading group aims to address timely questions at the intersection of philosophy and religion prompted by Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
Much of this remarkable programming lineup is a testament to the incredible students, scholars, and staff who contribute to the vibrancy of our community. I am deeply grateful for their scholarly work and active engagement in leading and envisioning new programs. I am happy that the Center can provide such support and foster an environment that encourages exploration in new and sometimes unexpected directions and the free exchange of ideas.
Speaking of researchers, I am delighted to welcome three distinguished scholars to our community: Jason Ananda Josephson Storm, Professor and chair in the Department of Religion and chair in Science and Technology Studies at Williams College, will join us as Visiting Faculty for the Spring Semester. His research focuses on Japanese religions, European intellectual history and theory. Second, we welcome Andrew Shenton, Professor of Music at Boston University, who joins us a visiting scholar for the next year and a half, and whose work explores the entheogenic qualities of music. I already look forward to a musical event that we are planning for 2025 focusing on arts-based spiritual healthcare, specifically the use of Arvo Pärt’s music in therapy. Francesco Piraino is the Director of the Centre for Comparative Studies of Civilizations and Spiritualities at the Cini Foundation in Venice; he joins us as a Research Associate working on spirituality, esotericism, mysticism, and the relationship between art and religion, especially, but not exclusively, in the Islamic and Sufi frame. We are excited to be partnering with the Cini Foundation for their upcoming conference on "Materiality At The Intersection Of Ecology And Religious Studies"; we encourage scholars to submit papers by the upcoming deadline of February 1, 2024.
I am grateful for the enthusiasm and dedication of our CSWR community and I look forward to another semester of shared learning and growth.