Breathing in Plants and Chaos—Cosmic Tree Events in Cameroon and Beyond
(2026) Anthropology of Consciousness — Vol. e70053, p. 15 (2026)
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- Authors
Laplante, Julie 
- Abstract
- (en) Contemporary practices of tapping into the wisdom of ancestral trees are described through three entangled recent events lived within the context of Bantu practices in Cameroon. In the three instances, the steered or chance encounters with high potency trees were serendipitous telling moments which brought something new to the horizon. We explore how a transfer of vitality from trees to humans can enhance chances of vital enchantment or healing. Ultimately, we are interested in very real ways in which trees partake in human lives and largely surpass their reduction to objects or bioresources. We argue chaos theory and vegetal thinking provide ways to understand how these practices unfold. In this context and approach, plants are chaosmological and breathing mediums, and fieldwork is something done in the air in which we are suspended, open to the creation of novel bifur-cating or textured paths that stem from a breath of chaos.
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Citations
Laplante, J., Lekeufack, A., Ponce, N., & Kañaa, R. (2026). Breathing in Plants and Chaos—Cosmic Tree Events in Cameroon and Beyond. Anthropology of Consciousness, e70053, 15. https://doi.org/10.1111/anoc.70053 (Original work published 2026)