It has been another rich year of programming at the CSWR, much of it centering around the Transcendence and Transformation initiative – about to enter its third year. We were pleased to host a fascinating cohort of T&T affiliates, including visiting scholars, post-doctoral fellows, and research associates.
David Abram joined us for the entire year as Senior Visiting Scholar in Ecology and Natural Philosophy: he offered workshops on animism and nature in the Lincoln Woods, and one at the Center on “Ecology and Magic,” along with his colleague and collaborator, Sophie Strand.
Two of our popular online speaker series continued again this year: “Gnoseologies,” hosted by T&T Research Associate Giovanna Parmigiani; and “Psychedelics and the Future of Religion,” hosted by me. A highlight from the former was a conversation with Marcelitte Failla on “Black Tarot”; a highlight from the latter was my conversation with Bill Barnard about his new book, Liquid Light: Ayahuasca Spirituality and the Santo Daime Tradition.
T&T Post-Doctoral Fellow Matthew J. Dillon launched a new podcast called “Pop Apocalypse,” with two episodes already released and many more to come – check out his conversations with Alex and Allyson Grey, and with Laurence Caruana!
Sherah Bloor continues to serve as the editor of the journal Peripheries, supported by the Center; and to lead our programming around “Poetry, Philosophy, and Religion,” which in May hosted Harvard’s own Tracy K. Smith for an online “Craft Talk & Reading” and an in-person workshop. We are grateful to have hosted more in-person events this year than last.
In the fall semester, the Center co-sponsored an historic two-day symposium celebrating the 50th anniversary of the publication of Vine Deloria Jr.’s field-changing book, God is Red: A Native View of Religion. And in the spring semester, the Center was proud to support a student-led conference on “Interdisciplinary Psychedelic Research,” drawing together scholars from across the university in the sciences, humanities, and professional schools. Several of the Center’s affiliates spoke at that conference, including myself, but also Rachael Petersen and Natalia Schwien, who together led a wildly successful biweekly reading group this year on the topic of “Plant (and Fungi) Consciousness” – a diverse group of students, staff, and faculty we hope will continue again next year.
Finally, we are thrilled to start again our practice of offering the Center’s Conference Room as an exhibition space for artists: in May we hosted an opening for Daniel B. Wells (MDiv 2023), whose beautiful collection of photographs, “A Journey with Sacred Trees,” will remain in the Center’s permanent collection, and will be on display through August (thank you, Dan!).
I am grateful to all the Center’s academic affiliates who helped generate and host these many events; to you all for following our programming, online and in person; and especially to the Center’s staff, who are all new to the Center this year: Hilary Flores-Hebert, Mariam Saadieh, Laurie Sedgwick, and Gosia Sklodowska (our new Associate Director!). They and I are looking forward to a few quieter summer months, as we rest, recuperate, and refresh, all with the hopes of bringing you another year of exciting research and programming in the study of religion. I’ll be in touch again at the end of the summer to give you a preview of the year ahead. Until then, I wish you all the best for the summer!