“Western Science is ‘half-brained.’ Indigenous Elders had it right: Rethinking Animal-Human relationships and research“

Panel: “Dethroning Human Hubris”

2026 Online Symposium, May 3 2026

Reimagining Goddess Scholarship:  At the Edges of Sacred Knowledge

Arieahn Matamonasa Bennett, PhD, joined ASWM after completing her Ph.D. in 2005, mentored by the late Patricia Monaghan, and has been a frequent contributor and speaker and a member of the ASWM Advisory Board. She completed her MA and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Fielding Graduate University and is a licensed psychologist. She is an Associate Professor with the School of Continuing and Professional Studies (SCPS), at DePaul University where she has taught for the past two decades. She has widely published and taught in multidisciplinary research areas: Cross-cultural, ethnic minority & indigenous psychology, women’s psychology and the history, science and psychology of human-animal relationships. In addition to teaching, she maintains a small private practice which incorporates Equine Assisted Psychotherapy and experiential learning in nature as a part of holistic therapeutic practice.

Presentation Description:  We have deep and powerful experiences with horses and nature that are difficult to describe and quantify with our rational, scientific minds. Understanding and integration happens in the metaphoric mind of dreams, symbols, storytelling, myth, dance, art, and music. Based on theories ranging from Jungian (Depth) psychology to the pioneering work of Samples (1976, 1993) and (ancient) indigenous scientific paradigms (Cajate, 2000; Couture, 2013; Wilson, 2008), animal-human studies are given what is often a missing or invisible lens. The metaphoric mind, or ‘nature mind’ is our oldest mind and has been developing for about three million years. Western society and its educational systems focus on mainly left-brain functions such as linear thinking and language. Metaphoric, symbolic perception and intuitive, right-brain activity has been neglected. As language and the rational mind develops, the holistic experience of the metaphoric mind eventually recedes into the subconscious, but it can, however, still be called on or accessed during creative or spiritual experiences. Metaphoric mind processes are tied to creativity, perception, images, physical senses, and intuition. “This presentation explores the ways in which accessing and giving equal regard to the metaphoric mind holds important keys to a more whole-brained scientific paradigm, shaping, deepening, and advancing our understanding the animal-human bond and our connections to the natural world.

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