AMODEA FIELD NOTES
N°01
The Anthropology
of Self-loss
Ritual, Rhythm, Trance & the Human Desire to Disappear
A 69-page independent journal exploring a strange human desire: to step outside ourselves.
Across cultures and centuries, humans have created rituals, rhythms and altered states that temporarily loosen the boundaries of the self. Through anthropology, philosophy, history, archival imagery and lived experience, this first issue explores what we may be searching for when we disappear.
€12 · DIGITAL EDITION · 69 PAGES ·
AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH · FRANÇAIS
69 PAGES
Essays, archival images, field notes and personal reflections.
A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
From ancient ritual to contemporary dancefloors.
INSTANT ACCESS
Available in English & French. Both editions are included with your purchase.
A COLLECTIBLE SERIES
The first issue of AMODEA Field Notes.
AN INDEPENDENT JOURNAL
A journey through ideas, images and questions.
Why do humans sometimes want to escape the boundaries of the self?
From meditation to trance, ritual dance to collective ecstasy, possession to the modern dancefloor, The Anthropology of Self-Loss follows this question across cultures, disciplines and centuries.
Part essay, part visual archive, part field notebook, this issue brings together anthropology, philosophy, history, photography and personal experience.
It is not an attempt to give one answer.
It is an invitation to follow the question.
INSIDE N°01
Eleven chapters. One recurring question.
PART I • MAKING OF THE SELF
I. The Invention of the Self
II. Rhythm Before Language
III. Ritual, Power & Meaning
PART II • LOSING THE SELF
IV. Ecstasy
V. Possession & Surrender
VI. The Liminal Self
VII. From Ritual to the Dancefloor
PART III • WHAT REMAINS
VIII. The Return
IX. The Sacred After Religion
X. The Politics of Self-Loss
XI. The Social Power of Possession
Also inside:
Editor’s Notes · Field Notebooks · Personal Essays · Photographic Plates · Epilogue · Bibliography & Further Reading
“We spend so much of our time building, guarding and curating a self. And yet, across cultures and centuries, humans have also created spaces in which the self becomes less important, less solid, sometimes even absent.”
FROM THE PROLOGUE
NOT JUST SOMETHING TO READ
Something to explore.
ESSAYS & RESEARCH
Anthropology, philosophy and history brought together around one central question.
ARCHIVAL IMAGERY
Photographs and visual traces of ritual, trance, movement and collective experience.
FIELD NOTEBOOKS
Small observations and fragments gathered along the research.
PERSONAL WRITING
Moments where the research leaves the books and enters lived experience..
AN INDEPENDENT PUBLICATION
Made to be kept, revisited and questioned.
Field Notes is not designed to give you quick answers. It is a space for slower attention. Each issue follows one question through anthropology, philosophy, history, ritual, art and lived experience.
Something to read slowly, return to, underline, question, and perhaps see the world a little differently afterwards.
69 pages · Original essays · Archival research · Visual references · Field notes
FAQ
What format is Field Notes?
Field Notes N°01 is a 69-page digital journal delivered as a PDF. You can read it on your computer or tablet and keep it in your personal library.
Is this a physical magazine?
Not yet. N°01 is the pilot issue and is available exclusively as a digital edition.
What language is it written in?
Field Notes N°01 is available in both English and French. Your purchase includes both digital editions, so you can read in whichever language you prefer.
How do I receive it?
You’ll receive access to the PDF immediately after your purchase.
A man at the entrance of a ceremonial house, Région de Ouégoa, New Caledonia. Photo : J.O. Haas, 1930 (Archives de la Nouvelle-Calédonie).
AMODEA FIELD NOTES
Notes on the sacred, the body and beyond.
AMODEA Field Notes is an independent journal exploring the meeting point between the sacred, the body, consciousness and culture.
Each issue begins with a question.
Rather than searching for quick answers, Field Notes follows that question through texts, images, traditions, research and lived experience bringing ancient worlds into conversation with contemporary life.
Different questions. A deeper exploration of what it means to be human.
FRAGMENT NOTES
Curated by Julia Sahasra
My curiosity moves between yoga and Indian philosophy, anthropology, consciousness, ritual, the body, and the strange ways humans have tried to understand what it means to be alive.
Field Notes is where these fragments come together, texts I read, images I find, places I visit, ideas I question and experiences that stay with me.
Not as definitive answers, but as an ongoing research.
Julia Sahasra
Founder & Editor, AMODEA
FRAGMENT NOTES
Curated by Julia Sahasra
My curiosity moves between yoga and Indian philosophy, anthropology, consciousness, ritual, the body, and the strange ways humans have tried to understand what it means to be alive.
Field Notes is where these fragments come together, texts I read, images I find, places I visit, ideas I question and experiences that stay with me.
Not as definitive answers, but as an ongoing research.
Julia Sahasra
Founder & Editor, AMODEA
AMODEA FIELD NOTES – N°01
The research continues.
The Anthropology of Self-Loss is the first issue of AMODEA Field Notes. 69 pages of essays, images, research, field notes and questions about the human desire to temporarily step outside ourselves.
12€ · DIGITAL EDITION
Instant PDF access after purchase.
ENGLISH + FRANÇAIS
Both digital editions included.
One issue. One question. No algorithm. No noise. Just something worth spending time with.
AMODEA FIELD NOTES – N°01
The research continues.
The Anthropology of Self-Loss is the first issue of AMODEA Field Notes. 69 pages of essays, images, research, field notes and questions about the human desire to temporarily step outside ourselves.
12€ · DIGITAL EDITION
Instant PDF access after purchase.
ENGLISH + FRANÇAIS
Both digital editions included.
One issue. One question. No algorithm. No noise. Just something worth spending time with.