[Linganth] Jeffrey Snodgrass discusses his new book, The Avatar Faculty

[Ilana Gershon]

Dear Colleagues,
Today on the CaMP anthropology blog, Jeffrey Snodgrass answers Jie Wu's
questions about his new book on avatars in video games.

www.campanthropology.org

Best,
Ilana


Press blurb: *The Avatar Faculty* creatively examines the parallels between
spiritual and digital activities to explore the roles that symbolic second
selves—avatars—can play in our lives. The use of avatars can allow for what
anthropologists call ecstasy, from the Greek *ekstasis*, meaning "standing
outside oneself." The archaic techniques of promoting spiritual ecstasy,
which remain central to religious healing traditions around the world, now
also have contemporary analogues in virtual worlds found on the internet.
In this innovative book, Jeffrey G. Snodgrass argues that avatars allow for
the ecstatic projection of consciousness into alternate realities,
potentially providing both the spiritually possessed and gamers access to
superior secondary identities with elevated social standing. Even if only
temporary, self-transformations of these kinds can help reduce psychosocial
stress and positively improve health and well-being.
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