Which academic discipline should I pursue given my interests?

[PsychedelicExplorer]

Hi there, 

 

I just completed my third year of university doing a sociology degree. My original plan was to become a sociology professor, however I am beginning to think that sociology does not align with my deepest interests. It may sound silly to some people, but as someone who has experienced both DMT and Ayahuasca on multiple occasions due to my fascination with the realms one can explore within these altered states of consciousness, I am very interested in studying these realms as an academic. Like many others, I believe that there is something unfathomably peculiar about these realms and the fact that after visiting them individuals come back as new people in ways such as having increased empathy, less anxiety and lower levels of depression. Sadly, I do not know what "type" of professor I should become to conduct research into these psychedelic realms. I know many anthropologists study shamanism and ritualistic use of psychedelics, but I do not know if becoming an anthropologist would suffice for my purposes. Perhaps it would though, I am honestly just not sure of anything! I was hoping someone could perhaps shed light upon what field I should pursue as an academic given my interests?:) I'm not sure if this is necessary, but just to give some added context: I am more than willing to change my UG degree if need be, my GPA is currently 3.88, I live in Canada, and I am willing to go just about anywhere for grad school.

 

Thanks everyone! I look forward to hearing from you guys!

[3dender]

Anthropology, religion and philosophy are the three major fields that jump to mind.  With so much work done in Sociology you're probably closest to an Anth degree.  Looking for joint programs among those three fields for your graduate degree would probably be where to aim.

[1%learnings]

* what did your professors say?

* what other research have you done?

Edited June 15, 2017 by 1%learnings

[PsychedelicExplorer]

1 hour ago, 1%learnings said:

* what did your professors say?

* what other research have you done?

Would you mind rephrasing those questions, I'm not sure what you mean

[mdivgirl]

Read a lot.  See whose work resonates best with you and see what field they are in and what their approach is.  Take some courses outside your discipline.  If you don't know what you want to do, there's nothing that says you have to go straight into grad school.  I ended up teaching ESL in Asia for years before I realized that yes, academics really was where I need to be.  Even then, it took a while to narrow down the discipline, but once I did, I know I approached it with considerably more understanding of what I was doing and why than I would have straight out of school, and I know my application reflected this.  You can always take extra courses at community colleges or even non-degree-seeking courses at public universities along the way to further explore what might be best for you.

[Kerena Kim]

I would suggest you to talk with teacher of respective field to take expert advice.