Modelling Altered States of Consciousness Configurations (ASCCs). Towards an Interactional Anthropology of Consciousness

How to explore the interactional dimension of Altered States of Consciousness? In the first part of this article I focus on an ethnographic case: grisi siknis, an hallucinatory trance seizure diffused among the Miskitos and other populations of Central America. According to local theories, grisi siknis seizure is a transmissible syndrome, usually affecting crowds of young people. The seizure’s experience is disruptive, as it produces cognitive and metacognitive impairments. By exploring the social interactions which are constitutive of grisi siknis, I claim the need to elaborate interactional models of Altered States of Consciousness Configurations (ASCCs). In order to model ASCCs, I articulate predictive-inferential models of consciousness with pragmatic analyses of interactional devices. Finally, I advance some preliminary propositions towards an anthropology of consciousness suitable for describing societies as collective fields of inter-subjective psycho-physiological influences. I evaluate the theoretical scope of such project and its possible therapeutic applications.