Writing

A bit quiet on the blogging front but I've not been idle. I've taken on a new load of teaching this semester - a module in 'Research Communication' for the degree in Communication, Media and Culture, and 'Issues in Contemporary Religion' for Religion and Theology. With lecture writing there never seems to a point where you feel the job is done - always another book to read or another perpective to acquire.

On top of that I've finished two fairly substantial pieces of writing. There's 'Close to the Hedge: Critical Recollections of Psychedelics, Animism and Spirituality' which is my contribution to the forthcoming Handbook of Animism, being edited by my old mentor, Graham Harvey. The chapter discusses British 'tribedelica' and employs the philosophy of Henri Bergson to argue the case for the return of a critical study of psychedelics into the academy (and more besides).

Then there's 'Folk Music and British Paganism', a chapter for another forthcoming book, Pop Pagans: Paganism and Popular Music, to be edited by Andy Bennett and Donna Weston. Here I challenge the popular belief that folk music has pagan origins, but also look at how that assumption has affected British folk in the post-war period.

I'm just about to start writing my contribution to the book of the Ecology, Cosmos and Consciousness series of lectures, a critical look at the whole psychedelic 2012 phenomenon. After that I've a piece to write for an exciting collection called Archaeology and Ancestors - a book looking at the views of Pagans, archaeologists, heritage managers and anthropologists concerning the dead and the reburial of human remains. Then I've got to start my paper - 'Notes towards a minimal theory of psychedelic action' - for the Breaking Convention conference at the University of Kent, which is shaping up to be one of the most exciting events of the spring.

Oh, and not forgetting the on-going project of 'the difficult second book' - work is progressing but I ain't gonna say nuffink right now.

Busy busy.