HILLARY S. WEBB, PhD
YANANTIN and MASINTIN in the ANDEAN WORLD
Complementary Dualism in Modern Peru
HILLARY S. WEBB, PhD., is an anthropologist, author, and the former managing editor of Anthropology of Consciousness, the peer-reviewed journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness. She also served as a research director of The Monroe Institute. Webb earned a PhD in Psychology from Saybrook University in 2009, during which time she conducted research into the psychological experience of yanantin or "complementary opposites" as the basis of the indigenous Peruvian worldview, and a master’s degree in Consciousness Studies (specializing in the philosophy of mind) from Goddard College in 2006. She is the author of Yanantin and Masintin in the Andean World, Traveling between the Worlds, and Exploring Shamanism.
Dr. Webb is a member of the Board of Trustees at Goddard College, where she is able to follow her passion for the promotion and expansion of progressive education models. She currently lives in Southern Maine. |
YANANTIN and MASINTIN in the ANDEAN WORLD is an eloquently written autoethnography in which researcher Hillary S. Webb seeks to understand the indigenous Andean concept of yanantin or "complementary opposites." It claims that polarities of existence (such as male/ female, dark/light, inner/outer) are interdependent and essential parts of a harmonious whole.
Webb embarks on a personal journey of understanding the yanantin worldview of complementary duality through participant observation and reflection on her individual experience. Her investigation is a thoughtful, careful, and rich analysis of the variety of ways in which cultures make meaning of the world around them, and how deeply attached we become to our own culturally imposed meaning-making strategies. |