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Geographies of Spirituality: Security, Wellbeing and the Extraordinary
Please note that this session is sponsored by the Geographies of Religion, Spirituality and Faith Working Group, and that the abstracts submission deadline has been extended to Friday 20 January 2012.
Organisers: Nadia Bartolini (Open University), Sara MacKian (Open University) and Steve Pile (Open University)
This session seeks to explore the geographical, socio-economic and cultural perspectives of how spiritualities contribute to security, health and wellbeing. Some have asked whether there has been a radical transformation in UK culture where religion has been replaced with a new form of spirituality that centres on the person (Heelas and Woodward 2005). For them, there is evidence for a series of spiritual mini-revolutions that have not only altered culture, but have placed spiritual issues at the centre of social, cultural and economic life. For example, in a recent debate in the House of Lords, the Archbishop of York has called for the NHS bill to cover what he defined as ‘spiritual health’ (BBC News, 3 November 2011). With spirituality spilling beyond the confines of institutional religion, therefore, person-centred spiritualities are seen to capture a sense of ontological security, providing the individual with a sense of safety, fulfilment and an ability to exert some control over their lives. This sense of security may manifest itself through personal development and emotional grounding, but it may also be linked with financial stability and security. It has been noted how such spiritualities often take on a distinctly ‘otherwordly’ flavour (see for example MacKian 2012), and in this session, we are interested in examining how alternative spiritualities and the belief in the extraordinary form the basis for defining the spiritual self, enabling a sense of wellbeing in order to cope with a society in constant flux. Our aim is to explore, in different places and spaces, the complex ways in which contemporary spiritualities – beyond the traditional institutional confines of religion – influence ideas of security, health and wellbeing.
This call is mainly to gauge interest in such a session, and therefore we would love to hear from people about any paper proposals they might have. The organisers would particularly welcome papers that would explore:
- the geographies of spirituality
- the ways in which spirituality underpins health, wellbeing and a secure sense of self
- alternative, extraordinary and religious spiritualities
- the occult, the magical, and the otherwordly
Please send abstracts to Nadia Bartolini ( [log in to unmask] ), Sara MacKian ( [log in to unmask] ) and Steve Pile ( [log in to unmask] ) by Friday 20 January 2012.
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Dr David J. Butler | Department of Geography | University College Cork | Cork | IRELAND
tel.: +353 21 420 5166 | fax.: +353 21 427 1980 | email: [log in to unmask]
web: publish.ucc.ie/researchprofiles/A010/dbutler
LinkedIn: http://ie.linkedin.com/pub/david-j butler/2b/784/988
Co-Ordinator, NUI Diploma in Local & Regional Studies, UCC www.ucc.ie/en/ace/Courses/Diploma/LocalandRegionalStudies/
Editor, Journal of the Butler Society, http://www.butler-soc.org/
Chair, Geography of Religions and Belief Systems Speciality Group, AAG (USA) http://gorabs.org/
Secretary, Geographies of Religion, Spirituality and Faith Working Group, RGS-IBG (UK) http://www.rgs.org/
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