The following conversations give an overview of some of my current concerns and interests:

Fallacious Self (Simulation #572)

Outer Limits of Human Experience II (Simulation #592), a follow-up to Part I with Dr. Stanley Krippner (Simulation #591).

Shamanism and Psychology

Interview for Lowcountry Mental Health Conference

Growing up in West Germany shortly after World War II, I was painfully aware of the pervasive denials of the Shoah (German genocide against Jews). I observed the profound impact of these silences on education, psychotherapy, and narratives of identity in general. Similar silences exert a continuing power in this country. Deconstruction of Whiteness, decolonization, confrontation with cultural shadow material - these are among my primary professional interests.

My teaching and writing focuses on a decolonizing discourse of Whiteness, the history of modernist White self-constructions, and the critical reconstruction of European indigenous layers. I hope that out of the tears about the grievous things our ancestors have suffered and committed, amidst all the achievements, there will arise shared laughter and appreciation as the joy of the local truth ceases to be a call for dominance, and as people enjoy and appreciate each other's capacity for cross-cultural learning. Facing collective shadow material, the inclusion of the dark and light seem to prevent us from superficial nostalgia and dissociated romanticism in relation to any culture, and help us to move into the future through our connections with ancestral cultural roots. The remembrance of the web of stories that create who we are; the connection with the surrounding lands, community, and cultural history; the philosophical reflection upon our cultural premises; the dialogue of the various sciences with local knowledge and narratives, i.e. indigenous science these seem to be ways to open an avenue for rich multicultural inquiry and learning as well as the resolution of cultural wounds and the exploration of the liberating potential of ethnic constructions. My work is dedicated to diverse learning environments that elicit the teachers' and students' potentials through personal and scholarly inquiry for the sake of the communities to which they will dedicate their professional lives.

Autobiographical writing, ethnoautobiography is an approach I am using with students to help them navigate the processes of personal and cultural ethnic narratives. Students generally design co-operative inquiries to engage in a generative integration of curricular content with personal questions and critical reflections. For students of European descent the deconstruction of Whiteness and the recovery of ancestral roots requires not only the confrontation with cultural shadow material (such as genocide, racism, white privilege, inequality, bipolar gender construction) but also the remembrance of the earliest historical beginnings of supremacist self constructions. The confrontation with ancestral ethnic connections by White settlers (Euro-Americans) calls for a process of critical inquiry distinct from ethnic renewal and affirmation in Indigenous populations. The next section describes what I think about Indigenous traditions, shamans, and shamanism.

Coming-to-Presence at My Place of Hope

The above link leads you to my most current piece of writing reframing central psychological, social, and cultural issues. Here is a brief overview of the piece:

Jurgen Werner Kremer, in his piece “Coming-to-Presence at My Place of Hope”, feels compelled to look beyond the standard frameworks of psychology and neoliberal socio-cultural interpretations, because they “have lost their explanatory and guiding power.” He explores the possibilities of hope by an indigenous name for those (post)moderns who have lost connections with their indigenous roots. He urges that “’the West’ needs to find answers to the central questions of our times in the radical otherness that indigeneity represents.” Kremer contrasts Western interpretations of hope as an abstract notion projected into the future of linear time with hope as part of indigenous presence, a quality of hope that is “embedded and interwoven into a life centered in the ritual embodiment of spiritual beliefs and nurturing conversations with the natural world around.”

Kremer has pursued a path of recovery of an indigenous mind process in personal and scholarly inquiries. The prevailing understandings of Western psychology and cultural assumptions about time for him presented a road block to conceptualizing such recovery successfully beyond subjective imaginings. His central ancestral cultural image of the tree by the well, together with three female and three male presences, leads into an inquiry of its viability for today and our future. Rock carvings and other culturally relevant images from his Northern European background constitute the palimpsest of the article (which includes a photo of one of his ancestors); they are the grounding rock bed of Kremer’s explorations. What emerges in the article has communal origins based in place and his individual pursuit ultimately needs to return to contexts of communal nurturing conversations with all relations (including animals, plants, rocks, and more). At the root of indigenous presence is visionary sovereignty, an intimate and creative engagement with place, nature, narrative imagination, and ceremonial practices. The recovery of such presence, Kremer argues, requires the composting of hopelessness and shadow material.

Using the work of Walter Benjamin, Karen Barad, and Judith Butler, Kremer develops an understanding of time where quantum field theories and indigenous science understandings illuminate each other and become twins in emancipatory moves. Both perspectives can help us understand our embeddedness in the world and how flashes of memory can bring “the past into the present so that it may become what it might have been.” “Remembrance creates wholeness and the possibility of a different world.” This discussion has profound implications for psychological theories and beyond.

Kremer ends his contribution with a Hawaiian story relating remembrance to initiation. We need to confront painful memories and bring light into cultural shadow material which, ultimately, means “to confront death for the sake of our present evolutionary challenge”. He questions whether we (post)moderns are willing “to commit to the creation of livable communities in which we manifest our obligations and responsibilities to our fellow humans and other-and-more than humans”? The conscious confrontation with death forces the choice between life and self-destruction. He asserts that “the twins Indigenous science and quantum field theory can help us correct pathological thinking as the smooth linearity of time progressing is exploded by flashes of remembrance constellating a depth of presence and obligation to life largely forgotten by non-indigenous people”. Hope emerges from staring in the face of death and the possibility of choice in the face of darkness.

Thoughts on Indigenous Psychologies 

(Post on listserve for indigenous psychologies, 3. 10.21)

Colonization. That’s the shorthand for so many problems today. Refugee crisis. Drug wars. Interracial violence. For me, the roots of them all go back to this half-millennium-old historical epic that we’re living in – colonization – which is wrapped up with the development of capitalism and the rise of European modernity that extends to the United States. (Viet Thanh Nguyen)

To my mind, the central issue in defining Indigenous psychologies is the history of modernity/coloniality, to use Mignolo’s terminology. The impact of epistemic violence on Indigenous knowledge systems (the history of racist science, if you wish) needs to be taken into account when developing any definitions. I am holding out for a reframing of psychology as transdisciplinary endeavor that catalyzes and facilitates decolonial and emancipatory knowledge practices.

I would make definitional distinctions as follows:

1. Local psychologies vs. Indigenous psychologies.
2. Western academic psychology, in this scheme, would be a local psychology, as Sandra Harding and others have argued in their epistemological critiques.
3. The lens of Western academic psychology commonly is insensitive to Indigenous knowledge because it is generated and transmitted using different practices of knowing. The frame of folk psychology is a construction of Western academic discourse that often has been used in a discriminatory and dismissive role, invalidating knowledge that potentially can be beneficial in the resolution of our contemporary crises (e.g., traditional ecological knowledge). I would contend that much Indigenous knowledge does not or inadequately appears through the lens of Western psychology as its epistemology, ontology, and ethics are presently defined (Western psychology has yet to incorporate research and theory in the field of quantum field theory and overcome its representationalism; see Barad and others). Concepts such as the Dine hózhó, beauty or balance(and central phrases such as sa’a nághaí bik’e hózhó, inadequately translated as “walking on the trail of beauty toward old age”); Hopi suyantisqatsi (living in balance); or the Andean notion of the ayllu in which the goal is crianza, nurturing (its process often described by the Spanish phrase criar y dejarse criar, to nurture and to be nurtured); or Filipino kapwa (the Self-is-in-the-Other) contain a complexity and psychological and philosophical depth that is reflected in intricate cultural practices and relevant stories. They also reflect what I would call a qualitatively different embodiment of self and individuality that frequently eludes Western perceptions, i.e., perceptions through the lens of individualism (see Apffel-Marglin’s work on Andean traditions).
4. The term “indigenous” is used inconsistently and frequently confused with what I would call “local” cultures and ways of being and knowing. I use the term both in the sense of a particular practice of consciousness and its embodiment, and a socio-cultural as well as political concept with reference to Indigenous cultures as they define themselves (in terms of UN and UNESCO resolutions).
5. Western academic knowledge is local knowledge (originating in Königsburg with Kant, to name one of its local origins) that has had the colonial power to become universalized and impose itself on much of the rest of the world. It dissociates from what is valued in Indigenous knowledge practices and it is intimately connected with the addictive powers and notions of money, progress, development, individualism, race, etc.
6. Indigenous psychologies are specific (related to ecology, ritual/ceremony, story, astronomical observations, and other cultural practices), however, abstracting or generic assumptions of a psychology that does not exercise epistemic violence against Indigenous peoples and that revives intentions of early modern psychology (such as formulated by Wilhelm Wundt) is conceivable. It would establish knowledge practices that would move “the West”, “the East”, and Indigenous traditions into a framework of decolonial practices and egalitarian knowledge exchange.

I regard clarity of terminology and explication of philosophical assumptions as critical for the development of a psychology that steps outside of the framework of modernity/coloniality, which I see as a pressing historical challenge. Decolonial practices of knowing and of egalitarian and non-discriminatory knowledge exchange require the deconstructive acknowledgment of the history of Western sciences (and psychology in particular) and a critical accounting of the significance of the universalizing powers of colonialism and its epistemological practices. For me this is our contemporary ethical obligation as psychologists.

Peace and Indigenous Paradigm

Peace, if it is to have a chance to be genuine and durable, requires the sovereignty and self-determination of people which allows them to imagine themselves as part of a sustainable world of stories and cultural practices in a particular place or ecology. In this Indigenous notion of sovereignty the people come before any institutions and all relations are valued and honored. Today we can call this Indigenous paradigm ‘decolonial’ to mark the contrast to modernity/coloniality, a set of supremacist practices that has severed people from sustainable, self-determined practices.

For modern people to recover connections with their indigeneity in any real sense requires not only the honoring of Indigenous rights and sovereignty, but their own recovery of sovereign and sustainable practices that heal the shadows of their colonizing histories and traumatic splits from indigenous roots. It is the initiatory confrontation both with ancestral origins and the wounds of history that prevents appropriation and usurpation of Indigenous rights and traditions. This process is not only onto-epistemological and ethical, but profoundly personal, spiritual, and political.

Peace requires 1) honoring Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination and 2) the recovery of notions of sovereignty and self-determination for non-indigenous people. The result is the possibility of egalitarian knowledge exchanges and the deletion of supremacist notions of civilization, sovereignty, or democracy and the end of the colonial violation of the rights of Indigenous peoples.

Indigenous Traditions, Shamanism, and More …

The words ‘shaman’ and ‘shamanism’ are Western anthropological terms based on words taken from one specific tradition and then abstracted and generalized.  Šaman is an appropriate term for the Siberian Evenki (Tungus) people.  It is not the term the European Sámi people use for their healers and seers (noaidi), it is not the term the Yoruba people use (babalawo), it is not the term the Hawaiians use (kahuna); and various Native American tribes use different terms for their healers, seers, andholy people. And it is also not the term the Old Norse used before Christianization (volva and seiðman).  Each Indigenous culture has one or more specific terms for the specialists in their healing traditions.  This term is not shaman, except when it is šaman among the Evenki.  Shaman and shamanism are not Indigenous terms,they come out of the context of Western sciences that have grappled for a long time with Indigenous specialists who were often given pathological labels, such as schizophrenic.  Western scientists frequently failed to fully appreciate the Indigenous context that these specialists are a part of.

Given the history of incomprehension among many Western scientists, the establishment of shamanism conferences by Ruth-Inge Heinze and Mihály Hoppál about thirty years ago is significant.  These conferences became a place where academics, practitioners, and Indigenous specialists would gather to understand and practice the life affirming work of shamans.  This was very important in overcoming prejudicial and racist dismissals of Indigenous specialists and their practices.  These conferences were part of establishing shamanism as a serious field of study or specialty in anthropology, psychology, and other disciplines.  Today we can say that this task has been largely accomplished.

Ruth-Inge Heinze defined shamans as specialists who (1) access alternate states of consciousness at will, (2) fulfill needs of their community which otherwise are not met, and (3) are mediators between the sacred and the profane (i.e., encode ineffable messages).  The context in which shamans historically have worked is that of their Indigenous communities.  However, the Indigenous context of shamanism was dramatically altered through the history of conquest, colonization, genocide, racist science, and appropriation.  Today some Indigenous traditions and individuals feel entirely comfortable using the term ‘shaman’ for their healing specialists; others feel very uncomfortable with it; and some traditions and Indigenous individuals don’t particularly care.  The term is cherished in Mongolia, for example, and shamanism as the state religion is part of the re-assertion of their national identity; by contrast, many Native Americans do not like to use the term.

We all have indigenous roots and we all have ancestors who were part of traditions that used shamanism. Shamanic work is a human potential.  When we grow up indigenous, we become familiar with what our own tradition has to offer.  When we grow up non-indigenous, then we need to find a place for our calling, our potentials, and our gifts; this is often not easy. Indigenous people are intimately woven into their traditions, communities, and ecologies.  Non-indigenous people have grown up in Western worlds that thrive on the colonial and supremacist separation from each other (individualism) and our natural world, the separation from the elemental forces of earth, water, air and light.  Non-indigenous shamanic practitioners do not have a natural community, their community emerges from the market place which encourages charismatic inflation and creates various traps and challenges.  A shamanic practitioner is not an Indigenous shaman.  Both shamanic practitioners and shamans can be very powerful. Acknowledging the differences in cultural context means honoring Indigenous shamanic traditions.

When we are dedicating ourselves to understanding the shamanic practices of Indigenous traditions or learning and practicing them, then we need to dedicate ourselves not just to personal healing of individual suffering, but also to the healing of the history of the ongoing destruction of and threat to Indigenous peoples.  If we want to understand shamanism we also need to understand its Indigenous context and history;. healing history is shamanism in action.  Remembering our own specific indigenous roots is healing work.

When existential emergencies show overwhelming dimensions, when politicians lose the confidence of their constituency, when priests do not consider the needs of their community, when psychotherapists and physicians treat symptoms and not their patients, because they don’t have the time or feel constrained by “scientific” considerations, when underlying imbalances in an individual’s physical, emotional, mental, social, moral, and spiritual levels remain unattended, then the search for spiritual help begins and will even produce new shamanic practitioners and new shamanic traditions may emerge.

Shamanism is very much alive today.  It has stayed accessible whether we look without or within.  Shamans and shamanic practitioners are called to fulfill vital roles.  They heal by removing imbalances and restoring the connection between the sacred and the secular; they help to keep the earth in balance and help humans to walk in balance.  They continue to ritualize the process of transformation.

The Society and the Conference I am working with are dedicated to honoring and celebrating Indigenous traditions and their healing specialists.  They welcome the work of all shamanic practitioners who have dedicated themselves to remembering their ancestral roots; to learning from Indigenous traditions; and to healing a history that continues to be destructive of Indigenous knowledge and practices.  Balancing ourselves, balancing ourselves in our communities, and balancing ourselves in our ecologies, is the work of shamans and shamanic practitioners in order to protect earth, water, air, and light, in order to honor Life.  They are dedicated to address the transformation of this old paradigm,  while holding the world of healing with respect, and celebrating  all of us who come together to share knowledge, experience, and vision with integrity.

Here are two videos where you can see me in conversation about some of the issues that matter to me:

Fallacious Self: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKGiB0Yo76c

Conversation with Allen Saakyan and Stanley Krippner on some of our contemporary challenges: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqTQkuRGtfc