The Containment of Crisis: Meaning-Making & the Human Capacity to Heal

Join us for a deep dive into classic and contemporary anthropological texts that explore how humans navigate crisis, healing, and meaning-making through ritual, emotion, and symbol.

Place: Toast Noir Cafe | Time: 2:00 pm | Date: Saturday, September 6, 2025.

Readings:

• Michael Winkelman, Shamanism as the Original Neurotheology Available Online.
• Clifford Geertz, Religion as a Cultural System
  Search the title online and select nideffer DOT net.
• Victor Turner, “Symbols in Ndembu Ritual”
  Select Gettysburg College version.
• Robert Desjarlais, Struggling Along: The Possibilities for Experience Among the Homeless Mentally Ill JSTOR link - free with signup
• Robert Desjarlais, Body and Emotion. available on Amazon
• Angela Garcia, The Pastoral Clinic. available on Amazon

Note: This Meetup is not about shamanism per se. “Shamanism” here is used as a term ascribed by scholars to universal human techniques for altering consciousness, often in response to crisis. Our discussion will span multiple contexts—from Nepal to New Mexico, from homelessness to healing—to examine how humans ritually and emotionally contend with suffering.
All are welcome. Come and share your insights or simply listen and reflect.
Place: Toast Noir Cafe | Time: 2:00 pm | Date: Saturday, September 6, 2025.