Breathing in Plants and Chaos—Cosmic Tree Events in Cameroon and Beyond
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: ABSTRACT Contemporary practices of tapping into the wisdom of ancestral trees are described through three entangled recent events lived within the context of Bantu practices in Cameroon. In the three instances, the steered or chance encounters with high potency trees were serendipitous telling moments which brought something new to the horizon. We explore how a transfer of vitality from trees to humans can enhance chances of vital enchantment or healing. Ultimately, we are interested in very real ways in which trees partake in human lives and largely surpass their reduction to objects or bioresources. We argue chaos theory and vegetal thinking provide ways to understand how these practices unfold. In this context and approach, plants are chaosmological and breathing mediums, and fieldwork is something done in the air in which we are suspended, open to the creation of novel bifurcating or textured paths that stem from a breath of chaos.
Source: Anthropology of Consciousness
DOI: 10.1111/anoc.70053
Institutions: University of Ottawa, UCLouvain
Language: English
Subfield: Cultural Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,400
OpenAlex ID: W7203944170