CfP: Reimagining Totemism: Mystical Experience, Life Values, and Contemporary Art Practices
This topic reconsiders totemism’s evolution from early rituals to modern cultural phenomena, redefining it amid the humanities’ “ontological turn” (Philippe Descola). Moving beyond Durkheim and Lévi-Strauss’ functionalist/structuralist approaches, it aims to shift totems from social “cultural symbols” to spiritual vehicles linking human consciousness to mystical reality, framing totemic practices as ecological connections and challenging the nature-culture binary.
An interdisciplinary effort integrating mysticism neurophenomenology, theology, contemporary art, anthropology, ethnography and history, it examines totemic systems as sacred mediators across indigenous spiritualities, mystical traditions and modern theology. Tracing totems from 19th-century founders like McLennan to modern neuroscience on spiritual consciousness, it critiques totemic knowledge preservation, explores totemism’s symbolic representation and cross-denominational religious reflections, and prioritizes indigenous cosmologies and non-Western perspectives.
By analyzing artists like Joseph Beuys’ “reconstructed totems,” it explores ancient signs in Western philosophy and mystical regeneration. Using comparative religious methods, it studies contemporary totemic reimaginings as post-secular spirituality vehicles for religious signification in a plural world, addressing spiritual alienation via totem reimagining as spiritual reclamation.
Contributions via comparative historical analysis, religious studies or case studies are welcome, focusing on totemism’s philosophical/theological/aesthetic implications and its link between material culture and transcendent experience, to connect past and present spiritually in a plural age.
Topic Editors
Prof. Dr. Zhilong Yan
Prof. Dr. Lidija Stojanović
Dr. Aixin Zhang
Why this matters?
Totemism is not only a classic anthropological category, but also a living lens to rethink mysticism, values, and aesthetics today. We welcome contributions from religion, art history, genealogy, history, and philosophy.
Deadlines: Abstract 31 Aug 2026; Full paper 31 Oct 2026
Published in MDPI’s Arts, Genealogy, Histories, Philosophies, Religions journals.
If your research involves mystical experiences, totemic symbols, or contemporary art practices, we very much look forward to your submission.
[Submission portal link:Reimagining Totemism: Mystical Experience, Life Values, and Contemporary Art Practices (mdpi.com)] (Feel free to message me with questions or preliminary ideas! My email: aixin.zhang.art[at]outlook.com)
More information at https://www.mdpi.com/topics/UA41BXAFOP.
Source: H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 US.