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THE BUZZ
A Newsletter for the Transformative Inquiry Community
Issue 3, December 2019
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Greetings! I am thinking of students and faculty now, hoping your break from coursework is rejuvenating and joyful. To all of the Transformative Inquiry community and friends, thank you for your support, enthusiasm, and good will this semester and always. I wish you all the best this season has to offer and a spectacular New Year.
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Congratulations to the following students
who successfully defended their dissertations this semester!
Ashley N. Campbell - We are Afrofuturism: Using Television to Revisit Black Cultural Roots While Envisioning a Transcendent Path Forward in American Society
Kristin Harris - The Act of Creation Triggers Gnosis
Cheryl Lawler Lynch - From Oppositional Consciousness to Participation in a Ternary Logic of Love: Embodying the Third Space that We Are: A Portfolio of Three Papers
Kim MacQueen - Reflections on the Sacred Arts: A Qualitative Inquiry with Bahá’í Artists
Jennifer Peer Rich - A Metamodern Autoethnographic Journey of Healing From Childhood Cancer and Adverse Childhood Experiences Through Reinhabiting Self and Ecological Consciousness
Nermin Soyalp - A Transdisciplinary Perspective on the Historical Traumas among Armenian, Kurdish, and Turkish People of Anatolia: Transgenerational Trauma, “Turkishness” and the Epistemologies of Ignorance
Nick Walker - Transformative Somatic Practices and Autistic Potentials: An Autoethnographic Exploration
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A FRACTAL EPISTEMOLOGY FOR A SCIENTIFIC PSYCHOLOGY
Bridging the Personal with the Transpersonal
Edited by
Terry Marks-Tarlow, Yakov Shapiro, Katthe P Wolf, and Harris Friedman
TSD professor Leslie Combs and TSD (2012) Sally Wilcox have co-authored a chapter titled "Fractal Topology of Transcendent Experience" for the forthcoming book A Fractal Epistemology for a Scientific Psychology.
"Fractal dynamics provide an unparalleled tool for understanding the evolution of natural complexity throughout physical, biological, and psychological realms. This book's conceptual framework helps to reconcile several persistent dichotomies in the natural sciences, including mind-brain, linear-nonlinear, subjective-objective, and even personal-transpersonal processes. A fractal approach is especially useful when applied to recursive processes of consciousness, both within their ordinary and anomalous manifestations."
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Nermin Soyalp (TSD 2019) produced an event gathering Kurdish community members and scholars to reflect on the crisis in Rojava
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The recent political and military developments in Northern Syria have been deeply concerning. One of our recent graduates, Nermin Soyalp, inspired by her dissertation topic on historical traumas of Turkey, in collaboration with TID, brought a combination of scholars and Kurdish community members from the Bay Area to dialogue about their experience and insights on the Kurdish struggle. Musician and activist Raman Osman and political activist Deellan Kashani presented an overview of Kurdish history, current events in Rojava, and the women's movement in Kurdistan. Jennifer and Michael Israel, parents of Şehîd Robin Agiri, told a touching story of their son who joined YPG, and what they have learned about the movement since their son was killed in military action in Rojava. Finally, Andrej Grubacic, the head of the Anthropology and Social Change Department at CIIS, shared a letter he had received from Rojava. Musicians Raman Osman and Evin Sah closed the evening with a heartfelt Kurdish lament. It was a touching, informative, and inspiring evening. The event was recorded and will be available via the CIIS portal.
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DR. LEONELDA CASTILLO, TSD
I learned about the Transformative Studies program at a time in my life that was filled with questions. I longed to make sense of the connections between my many roles, which included being an entrepreneur, a passionate educator and a parent of two. At the same time, I secretly carried the dream of making a greater contribution to society. Therefore, the program’s promise to provide a space for deep reflection and creative inquiry came as an invitation I simply could not resist. Thanks to the diverse class experiences, the wisdom of the learning community, and the support of professors, I went through a process of personal and professional growth that led to great discoveries. Ultimately, I was able to dig up the courage to do research on the possibility of living from the heart in our modern world. Today, I continue to design educational programs that teach people to listen and speak from the heart and to adopt a way of living that goes more in alignment with our biological nature. Most importantly, I feel fulfilled and completely present, as I carry this work in everything I do and everywhere I go.
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DR. SALLY WILCOX, TSD 2012
When passions collide in a supportive environment that fosters creative exploration, unexpected results may arise. Such was the case in the TSD program at CIIS that encouraged this research into non-linear and fractal dynamics as they relate to transcendent experiences. “I am grateful to CIIS for the vision of cross-pollinating Eastern and Western transdisciplinary inquiry. Their structural tensegrity of porous yet rigorous academic investigation stretched the boundaries of my investigative potential. My chair, Leslie Allan Combs, has continued to encourage my research and writing on fractal dynamics as opportunities to contribute to the field expand.
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ASHANTI MONTS-TRÉVISKA, TSD
Ashanti is currently running as a general election candidate for Bellingham, Washington City Council Ward 3. She states, "Running for the City Council gives me an opportunity to bring holistic insights on various issues through my understanding of transformative justice.” Read more about her platform on Whatcom Watch Online and her campaign in the Bellingham Herald. Ashanti is a board member for the Whatcom Peace and Justice Center and Northwest Washington Community of the Deaf. She is currently co-manager of Cascadia Deaf Nation, a social enterprise owned and managed by deaf people of color, and co-manager of WeSynergy Interpreting.
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KELLY LARSON, TSD ABD
Kelly Larson is currently the CEO of Aquarian Devices, working with a team to build the first high speed, high capacity, secure data network for the solar system. She and her team are working to create the first deep-space communication network to better predict when the next solar flare will occur, in order to prevent widespread devastation of the electrical grid, which can cost trillions of dollars in damage. Learn more about her work in the TEDx talk entitled Taking Space - How Big Problems Lead to Bigger Opportunities. She also shares her personal journey into the world of space in Mission Eve podcast.
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VICTORIA SCHMIDT, TSD
Big congratulations to TSD student Dr. Victoria Lynn Schmidt-Ravenwood (earning her second PhD) for her book contract with Random House for "Writing with Purpose and Power: How to Manifest, Heal, and Change the world with the power of your pen.” We will post a link when the book is available in late 2020. Victoria earned a PsyD from California Coast University and her MFA in Film at UCLA, and also studied English at Harvard. She is the author of 6 other titles including A Writer's Guide to Characterization: Archetypes, Heroic Journeys, and Other Elements of Dynamic Character Development, Story Structure Architect: A Writer's Guide to Building Plots, Characters, and Complications, and 45 Master Characters, Revised Edition: Mythic Models for Creating Original Characters.
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You are invited to submit a paper for inclusion in a special issue of the International Journal of Transpersonal Studies (IJTS) on the topic of Embodying the Transpersonal in Our Everyday Lives. Submission deadline is January 31st, 2020.
"It is our intention that this issue of the journal would perform an important practical function of grounding transpersonal experience in our daily world, social interactions and cultural contexts. These social contexts and constructions can highlight gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, social justice, power, privilege, minority status, immigration and multiple identities. The destruction of the environment, the repression of the divine feminine and the alienation from our physical bodies and world. We see these contexts as being a significant opportunity for personal growth and social change.”
For more information or to send a submission, contact Rene Dumetz Ph.D at rdumetz@CIIS.edu. He is the Co-Chair of the PsyD Department and Admissions Chair at California Institute of Integral Studies.
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In case you haven’t heard - there is a new edition of the APA Publication Manual!
Copies are now available at the Library!
Some interesting updates to the manual include:
- An updated chapter with guidelines for writing without bias that address age, disability, gender, race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, intersectionality and the use of “they” as singular.
- New student-specific resources, including a sample paper and guidelines for formatting annotated bibliographies.
- Best practices for ethical writing, including discussions on avoiding plagiarism and updated guidance on navigating the publication process and disseminating research findings.
The APA has created a charming video highlighting the above changes and more.
RefWorks has been updated and the APA 7th Edition is now available in their system.
For Students: It may take some time for the adoption of the 7th edition to reach all corners of the CIIS Community. Remember to check with your faculty/dissertation chair or in your syllabus for which style to use. Need help with your writing? Make an appointment with the Center for Writing and Scholarship.
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Jeanine M. Canty, TLC (2007) edited and contributed a chapter in this collection of essays by multicultural women who are doing work that crosses the boundaries of ecological and social healing. The women are prominent academics, writers and leaders spanning Native American, Indigenous, Asian, African, Latina, Jewish and Multiracial backgrounds. The contributors express a myriad of ways that the relationship between the ecological and social have brought new understanding to their experiences and work in the world. Moreover by working with these edges of awareness, they are identifying new forms of teaching, leading, healing and positive change. In essence this speaks to the power of integrating multiple and often conflicting views and the transformations that result. As women working across the boundaries of the ecological and social, we have powerful experiences that are creating new forms of healing.
Recommended by Professor Jennifer Wells
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Baba
Nowadays everybody's got a Baba
And mine is Baba ma bop shu op.
My personal mantra: Rock around the clock.
Take the music of the hard fast beat
Can't stop my feet
I want to bow down and shake it out
It is so sweet!
With a guru like rock, I don't do nothin' but roll
For the master of my soul:
Baba ma bop shu op shu op
Baba ma bop shu op shu op
Baba ma bop shu op shu op.
By Jim Ryan
Professor Emeritus and Distinguished Adjunct
Asian Philosophies and Cultures
Philosophy and Religion Department
School of Consciousness and Transformation
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Photo by Julie Morley, TSD student and photographer
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We would love to hear from you!
Contribute to our newsletter by submitting news and images to jchapman@ciis.edu.
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ABOUT THE TRANSFORMATIVE INQUIRY PROGRAM
Learn more about our MA and PhD program by signing up for an info session!
Register for a Transformative Studies, Ph.D. Program online info session here.
Register for a Transformative Leadership, MA Program online info session here.
For more information, contact Admissions Counselor Richard Wormstall at rwormstall@ciis.edu or 415-575-6156.
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