Dividual Vision of the Individual

New Age spirituality is often characterized as individualistic, prioritizing the self and personal interests. This article challenges that view through an ethnographic study of ayahuasca neoshamanism in Australia. Thick ethnographic evidence reveals collectivist logics of social action in ritual practices of ecstatic purging and visions. The author argues that these practices are better understood through the anthropological concept of "dividualism," where the person is seen as multiple, partible, and exchangeable within social relations of obligation. This perspective, drawn from ethnographic theory, creates space for emic theories of social action and contributes to debates about individualism and collectivism in New Age spirituality.

Study at a glance

Abstract

There has been ongoing scholarly debate concerning whether New Age spirituality may be defined by individualistic more than collectivistic values, beliefs and behaviours. Most scholars have answered in the positive and indicated how New Age beliefs and techniques emphasise the importance of the self and self-interests of the practitioner. This article contributes to debates on New Age individualism with an analysis of ayahuasca neoshamanism in Australia. I introduce thick ethnographic evidence of collectivist logics of social action in ritual practices of ecstatic purging and visions. I argue that these practices can be interpreted through anthropological notion of "dividualism" whereby the person is multiple, partible, and exchangeable along social relations of obligation (Strathern 1988, Mosko 2013). The article illustrates how ethnographic theory may contribute to debates about individualism and collectivism in New Age spirituality by creating space for "native" or emic theories of social action.