Research Interests

Comparative Cultural and Religious Studies; Decolonial Pedagogies and Research Design; Cultural and Environmental Anthropology; Indigenous Ways of Knowing; Narrative Analysis; New Animism and Animistic Theory; Southern African Ritual and Cosmology; Spiritual Ecology; Religion and Ecology; Relational Ontology

Biography

Chantal Noa is a transdisciplinary scholar, storyteller, and educator at the intersection of ecology, spirituality, and culture. Born and raised in a multicultural family in South Africa, Chantal identifies as a transnational scholar who is part of the Global Majority, encompassing both human and more-than-human communities.

Chantal’s work explores the environmental significance of decolonial and Indigenous perspectives on multispecies ontology, more-than-human personhood, and cultural sovereignty. Chantal’s teaching interests include decolonial methods and pedagogy, environmental studies and anthropology, ecology and religion, and Indigenous lifeways.

Before completing her Ph.D., Chantal spent twenty years working in social documentaries, environmental media, and agricultural communications across Africa, Southwest Asia, Southeast Asia, and Europe. Chantal has served as a visiting assistant professor of anthropology at Randolph-Macon College in Virginia and as adjunct faculty at the California Institute of Integral Studies and Pacifica Graduate Institute in California.

Education

• Ph.D. Philosophy and Religion, California Institute of Integral Studies
• M.A. Near and Middle Eastern History, Tel-Aviv University
• B.A. Honors in Film Production, AFDA Motion Picture and Live Performance Academy

Courses

• PAR 6003 Reclaiming a More-than-Human Psychology: The Ecological Significance of Transspecies Ontology in Animist Philosophies
• PAR 6057 Indigenous Lifeways and Ecology
• PAR 6290 Rethinking Nature Conservation: An Interspecies Approach
• CT 6465 Epistemological Foundations in Decolonial Methodology