Did you realise that, as Proud Emergees, we’re a group of hermeneutical Dissenters? Neither did I until I came across the incredible resource, Warp &Weft. Thank you to Lisa’s book, we as a community are now more deeply rooted in a theoretical framework.

As a group of non-conformists who suffered hermeneutical injustice (not having our interpretation of our experiences acknowledged) through epistemic injustice (having our ‘gnosis’ – embodied ‘knowing’ of our experiences, disregarded by those in power), we decided to step out of our spiritual closets, join forces, and proudly share our stories as part of creating a new hermeneutic (meaning /interpretation) for our ‘altered state’ experiences.

I (Katie) have been a little absent as I’ve immersed myself in research as a means to give credibility to our plight… I apologise for not ‘being so availably here’ (I am still here – 3 years in, another 4 to go!), please know this is for us all (and the many more to follow). We are the bridges between worlds and paradigms. Anyway, in case you haven’t come across it already….

Warp & Weft is an incredibly well-researched, comprehensive, astoundingly wise and compassionate resource on reframing human experiences that our culture has come to call ‘mental health’.

I’m going to quote the author, Lisa Fannen in describing Warp & Weft, as she does a much better job of it than I ever could:

Warp & Weft gathers together ideas, radical frameworks and reference points to explore consciousness, and ways of understanding experiences of distress as they occur within our social and systemic contexts.

It looks at what gets called ‘mental health’ and challenges the idea that our experiences of distress, struggle or variable consciousness are only ‘mental’. It challenges the way biomedicine splits mind from body and soul, and names that we are embodied beings, who are shaped by and unfold within the contexts we have inherited and live in.

It looks at some of the history of psychiatry and examines the ways it has been, and continues to be used as a colonial force. It reframes trauma; it looks at the effects of trauma in the bodymindsoul, acknowledges the intersection of personal and collective trauma, and explores ways we might move towards healing.

Warp & Weft considers how we are given cultural ‘scripts’ for experience, and how we might relanguage experience on our own, and non-medical terms. Terms which address root causes of distress and point towards holistic approaches, in order to foster liberatory personal and collective transformation.

Lisa Fannen

You can access the audio version of the book here for free:

https://lisafannen.bandcamp.com/album/warp-weft

However, if finances allow, please donate as Lisa’s dedication and woven genius needs to be rewarded. I personally think that she deserves an honorary doctorate for this work of art.

Offered with so much love, and solidarity as always, Katie ❤