Reimagining Totemism: Mystical Experience, Life Values, and Contemporary Art Practices

Dear Colleagues,

This Topic reconsiders the evolutionary path of totemism from early ritual customs to modern cultural phenomena, financing a radical redefinition of the concept in the age of the “ontological turn” (Philippe Descola) in the humanities. We deliberately move beyond traditional functionalist and structuralist approaches upon which the analyses of, for example, Durkheim and Lévi-Strauss are based. Our ultimate goal is a paradigm shift, to transform totems from mere "cultural symbols" in social systems to potent spiritual vehicles linking human consciousness to mystical reality. This latter approach redeems totemic practices as vigorous modes of ecological relationship, problematising the deep-seated nature-culture binary.

Our study is the outcome of interdisciplinary and dedicated research that brings together the neurophenomenology of mysticism and theology, and contemporary art, with contributions not only from anthropology and ethnography, but also from history. As religious scholars we interrogate totemic systems as sacred mediators between immanent and transcendent spheres, rendering them comparatively across indigenous spiritualities, mystical traditions, and modern theological thought. We follow totems in historical flow—from the early founders of the subject in the 19th century, such as McLennan, up through modern neuroscientific inclinations toward spiritual consciousness. This historical–methodological dimension seeks to criticise the way in which totemic knowledge has been conserved and conveyed. This study especially seeks to elucidate how totemism represents conceptual and material entities in symbolic forms and how totemic activities reflect deep religious attitudes beyond denominational distinctions, envisioning the common feature of human pursuit of the sacred. We value indigenous cosmologies, oral history methodologies, and prioritise and co-create knowledge from non-Western perspectives.

With an examination of the current-day artistic practice of “reconstructed totems” by artists such as Joseph Beuys, this Topic considers how ancient signs found platforms in the experience of philosophy and mystical regeneration in Western society. Adopting comparative religious methodologies, we explore the ways that contemporary totemic reimaginings function as vehicles for post-secular spirituality, providing new means for engaging religious signification in a rapidly pluralising world. We are directly confronting the spiritual alienation crisis of our times by recasting the reimagining of totems as symbolic acts of spiritual reclamation and salutogenic contributions to human flourishing.

We would particularly invite contributions that participate in this cross-disciplinary conversation, whether through comparative historical analysis, religious comparative study, or specific case studies. Contributors should consider the philosophical, theological, and aesthetic implications of totemism and how totemic practice connects material culture to transcendent experience. The proposed Topic seeks to draw on the spiritual thread between past and present, by mapping ancient traditions onto a contemporary register, which we render motive in our pluralist age.

Prof. Dr. Zhilong Yan
Prof. Dr. Lidija Stojanović
Dr. Aixin Zhang
Topic Editors