Definition and context

According to Walsh and Vaughan, who introduced several definitions of the transpersonal field in the early 1990s, Transpersonal anthropology is the cross-cultural inspect of transpersonal phenomena and the relationship between consciousness and culture. Charles Laughlin, a founder of the field of Transpersonal anthropology, has defined the discipline as the cross-cultural examine of transpersonal experiences, including the sociocultural evocation, interpretation, and utility of transpersonal experiences, and their involvement in introducing social roles.

As with transpersonal psychology, the field is much concerned with altered states of consciousness ASC and transpersonal experience. However, the field differs from mainstream transpersonal psychology in taking more cognizance of cross-cultural issues—for instance, the roles of myth, ritual, diet, and texts in evoking and interpreting extraordinary experiences.