The College of Contemporary Animism
A New Postgraduate Programme
Free Online Event: 15th November 6-8pm UK
With Colin Campbell, Monica Gagliano, Rachel Fleming & Guests
An Invitation
Please join us for this online event to celebrate the development of our new postgraduate programme in Contemporary Animism, a collaboration between Animate Earth, University of Exeter and the Naia Trust.
What inspired this programme, how will it fit within the academy, what will it cover, when will it start? We have been astonished by the level of interest already and are hosting this event, with some of the programme leads and guest contributors, to answer some of the questions you’ve been asking. Please come if you’re a potential student, collaborator or are simply interested in the how we bring more animist thinking and practice to the more-than-human world.
The College of Contemporary Animism
“ … remembering that knowledge is not born in the mind alone, but rather out of deep relationships with the more-than-human world”
Monica Gagliano
This pioneering programme brings together Indigenous and traditional knowledge, embodied experience, ecological understanding and Western scholarship to explore our relationship with the living world. Drawing on psychology and consciousness studies, ecology and systems science, philosophy and experiential practice, students will investigate how humans perceive and participate in the more-than-human world, and how these understandings shape the ways we live, work and make decisions. From law, land and water management to animal welfare and regenerative practice, the programme asks what new possibilities emerge when we rethink what it means to be human in the 21st century.
Your Guides
Colin Campbell
Colin works with the wisdom traditions of South Africa, specifically those that are based on our relationships with the ancestors and spirits of nature. He looks at where these ancient indigenous practices collide and coalesce with the knowledge and belief systems of the west.
One of the most unique and precious treasures Colin Campbell bears is that he is one of the few who were accepted, taught and initiated by some of the wisest pre-industrial African knowledge carriers who lived in Southern Africa. Sadly, due to the decline of this indigenous culture and its associated natural habitats, Colin and his younger brother Niall, are now amongst the rarest-known custodians of ancient sacred African knowledge systems.
He now works around the world as a diviner, teacher and public speaker, developing forms through which to bring this knowledge to the modern world.
You can find out more about Colin here https://www.colincampbell.co.za/
Monica Gagliano
Monica Gagliano is an ecologist known for her research on plant intelligence. Gagliano is a Research Associate Professor in the field of evolutionary ecology at Southern Cross University in Lismore, Australia, where she directs the Biological Intelligence lab. She is a former fellow of the Australian Research Council.
Rachel Fleming
Rachel Fleming has worked with animist education for many years, designing and delivering educational programmes for Schumacher College, University of Wales Trinity St Davids and Embercombe, with a focus on the meeting places between human, nature and spirit, between ‘ecology’ and ‘spirituality’. She is co-founder and director of Animate Earth and loves to convene conversations that explore the deepest depths of why we are here, the ways we find belonging to the world and how to be in service to soul. She is committed to scholarship, word magic, creative imagination and the medicine of circles.