Slipping inside the Crack between the Worlds

Abstract

Most of the debate surrounding the publication of Carlos Castaneda's books has focused on the issue of whether Castaneda actually served as an apprentice to the Yaqui sorcerer don Juan Matus or if he invented the whole odyssey. While disucssion of this issue is important, since Castaneda was awarded a Ph.D. from the UCLA Anthropology Department for Journey to Ixtlan (under the title, "Sorcery: A Description of the World"), I approach Castaneda's work from a different perspective. By suspending judgment on the truthfulness of Castaneda's argument. I use his reported experiences as an exercise in the sociology of knowledge. Castaneda's work is placed in the philosophical context of social phenomenology, and the attempt is made to demonstate the relationship between Alfred Schutz's theory of multiple realities and Castaneda's put ative experiences in the world of sorcery. I further argue that Castaneda's books may be read as providing a model for living an "authentic" life. Although the issues raised may bear on one's assessment of the existence of don Juan, my intention is to point out the philosophical affinity of Castaneda's work with social phenomenology, and demonstrate the contribution that may be made to the sociology of knowlege and sociology of religion.