Anthropology of consciousness through contemplative practices : ethnographic investigation into meditative experience and subjectivity

A three-year doctoral project combines ethnography with theoretical and methodological inquiry to examine consciousness from an anthropological perspective through contemplative practices, broadly defined to include any practice fostering mindful awareness via bodily discipline. The study critiques standard ethnographic methodology and develops a variant that uses multi-layered drawings as visual devices to elicit narratives of subjective experience from participants engaged in meditation or contemplation. Although the number of participants was small, the author argues that the data are significant for qualitative research focused on individual subjectivities rather than collective experiences.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The present work is the result of a three-year doctoral research project, which develops both on an ethnographic level and through theoretical and methodological inquiry. The research system focuses on the concept of consciousness from an anthropological perspective, studied through the examination of contemplative practices. This term is employed in a broad sense, encompassing not only Buddhist meditation but potentially any practice aimed at fostering mindful awareness through bodily discipline, whether inspired by Buddhist meditation or developed independently. In order to outline an anthropological theory of consciousness capable of studying experiences as intimate as contemplative practices, this research critically analyzes ethnographic methodology and proposes a variant developed through the elicitation of narrations concerning subjective experience via visual devices. In the specific case of this thesis, these devices consisted of multi-layered drawings created in parallel with one or more meditation or contemplation pathways undertaken by the participating subjects. Despite the limited number of participants, I argue that the significance of the collected data, particularly within the framework of qualitative research methodology, is considerable when the focus is placed on individual subjectivities rather than collective experiences. This research pathway has engaged both the participants and the anthropologist, who, through not only interactions with the participants but also active involvement in the contemplative and elicitation exercises, underwent a process of redefinition of their own subjectivity, described through autoethnography. The conclusions reached pertain not only to the possibility of formulating an anthropological theory of consciousness but also to the critical importance of qualitative research methodologies in the study and description of subjectivities. Furthermore, this research has resulted in a profound theoretical reflection on the role of images and the agency of images in the construction of intersubjective or introspective relationships.