What are the Super Humanities with Andrea Actis. This talk draws inspiration from the work of Capilano Universe lecture series founder Dr. Leonard George and his groundbreaking 1995 book Alternative Realities: The Paranormal, The Mystic and the Transcendent in Human Experience, a meticulously researched compendium that reveals how so-called “anomalous” phenomena shape our worldviews and intersect with almost every aspect of culture and society. Promoting an even-handed and sympathetic approach to topics often marginalized or pathologized within academia, Alternative Realities helped pave the way for scholars in the humanities and social sciences to treat anomalous phenomena—including UFOs, precognition, poltergeists, near-death experiences, and countless other mysteries—as worthy of serious study.

Recent years have seen a major growth of interest in anomalous studies, notably through the work of historian of religion Dr. Jeffrey Kripal, whose Archives of the Impossible at Rice University has begun to institutionalize and popularize research into the paranormal to a degree not seen before. Dr. Kripal’s concept of the “superhumanities,” in particular, invites us to consider how the “supernatural” challenges and expands traditional Western-academic boundaries and offers new ways of thinking about history, power, politics, and the imagination. Blending scholarship, field research, and an intriguing constellation of personal and family stories, Andrea’s talk will provide an engaging overview of this emergent field and will help audience members deepen their understanding of how anomalous phenomena impact our personal and collective narratives.

About Andrea
Andrea Actis (PhD) has taught literature and creative writing in the English Department at Capilano University since 2017 and is a former editor of The Capilano Review. Her teaching, research, and creative interests emerge from an ongoing commitment to the study of how, in a range of different contexts, some things are taken seriously while others aren’t (but maybe should be). Andrea’s poetry, criticism, and art writing have been published in Fence, The Rumpus, World Picture Journal, Pelt, and elsewhere. Her book Grey All Over, an experimental memoir about traumatic grief and anomalous experience, was published by Brick Books in 2021 and was longlisted for the 2022 ReLit Award. With her collaborator Trevor Shikaze she operates the small press and research entity WAWI (What Are We In?).

Thursday January 29, 7:00-8:45pm on Zoom

Online Registration Required:
https://capu.zoom.us/meeting/register/u5Ulceyrqj0oH9DxiIxqe4rC9NkLoltKrsfL#/registration/span

For more information: https://www.capilanou.ca/student-services/community/get-involved/community-programs–lectures/capilano-universe/