Outreach Activities

OPEN SEMINAR

‘UMA INTRODUÇÃO À RELIGIÃO, ESPIRITUALIDADE E BEM-ESTAR CONTEMPORÂNEOS: PENSANDO ANTROPOLOGICAMENTE POR MEIO DE PRÁTICAS TRANSRELIGIOSAS.'

Class Seminar, where the PI of ReSpell, Eugenia Roussou, presented the project within the course of the Anthropology of Religions, organized by Dr. Caio Novaes at the Universidade Aberta, Lisbon, Portugal, 29th of January 2024.

The PI of ReSpell, Eugenia Roussou, participated in the Gnoseologies Speaker Series, Centre for the Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School, Harvard University, in a conversation with Giovanna Parmigiani, where she spoke about ReSpell and her research.

public event

Our team member Luis Muñoz Villalon participated in the event 'Místicos, buscadores y peregrinos: Respuestas desde el catolicismo postsecular a las actuales demandas de espiritualidad', 12 November 2024; Ateneo de Madrid: Special Association for the Study of Religions.

webinar

The ReSpell PI and co-PI Eugenia Roussou and Anastasios Panagiotopoulos were invited to participate in the 5th cycle of the “Ethnografein” webinars, organized by the Culture- Borders-Gender Lab, at the University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece (https://cbg-lab.uom.gr/en), with the panel "Τransreligiosity, rituals, bodies, subjects in the old and the new world", on 17 February 2025.

online seminar

Eugenia Roussou presented an important ethnographic aspect of her research within ReSpell at the Wednesday Seminar Series of the Department of Social Anthropology and History, University of the Aegean, entitled:

"Conspiracy Theories and Contemporary Religiosity: An Ethnographic Approach to the (Post-)Pandemic Crisis in Greece.” on 7 May 2025.

public film presentation

An ethnographic film produced within ReSpell, entitled 'Religion, Elasticity, Healing: an Ethnography of Everyday Religiosity in a northern Greek village' was presented on September 26, 2025, by Eugenia Roussou, at the Mediterranean Researchers' Night (MEDNIGHT) 2025: a public event funded by the European Union to promote scientific vocations among the youngest and the general population.

The presentation was held within the space of the Department of Social Anthropology and History of the University of Aegean, Mytilene, Greece.

public presentation

Natasha Martins, the doctoral researcher of ReSpell, presented her research project on benzimentos to a wider audience, in line with the project's commitment to sharing knowledge with the community outside academia.

Feira do Oculto e do Esoterismo, Lisbon, 18-19 October 2025.

blog post

Our postdoctoral researcher, Joana Martins, has published a short article based on her ReSpell research into contemporary paganism in Portugal on the newly inaugurated "Spiritual Practices Today" blog of the Contemporary 'Spiritual' Practices Network of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA).

Written in accessible language, the article strengthens both the equal dissemination of knowledge, which is of key importance to the project, and the relationship between ReSpell and the Contemporary 'Spiritual' Practices Network.

public talk

On 1 November 2025, Joana Martins, ReSpell's postdoctoral researcher, was invited to give a talk at the Samhain Fire Festival, which took place from 31 October to 2 November in Sintra, Lisbon. She shared some of her research within ReSpell on contemporary paganism and women identifying as bruxas in the Portuguese context with the wider public, which was well received. This talk was part of ReSpell's ongoing commitment to conducting outreach activities outside academia.

Poster Presentation

On 6 November 2025, the doctoral researcher Natasha Martins presented a poster at the event ‘Encontro de Doutorandos’, organised by CRIA-Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia, concerning her research project on ‘benzimentos’ in Portugal, undertaken within the scope of the ReSpell Project.

photo essay award

Our doctoral researcher Natasha Martins participated in the won one of the prizes for the "IUAES Portraying Religion and Health Photo Essay Award" and won one of the main prizes! 3-8 November 2025, World Anthropological Union, Guatemala.

Photographic exhibition

ReSpell organized the Photographic Exhibition ‘Echoes that Heal: Religion, Spirituality, Well-being’, between 28 November 2025 and 12 December 2025, at the Museu de Arte Popular, Lisbon, Portugal.

This exhibition was the result of research carried out by project team members in Portugal, Spain, and Greece. It invited the public to explore contemporary transreligious practices of religion, spirituality, and wellbeing, which resonate as echoes of lived experiences, shaped by socio-economic and political challenges and transnational flows over the last decades, and more recently by the global health crisis of COVID-19. It was a transreligious story of the therapeutic and transformative potential of everyday religious and spiritual practices and their healing effects, inviting viewers to engage, feel, and witness the multiple ways in which contemporary religiosity is currently experienced in southern Europe.

The exhibition was organized with the institutional support of Museu de Etnologia and CRIA.

film screening

The documentary "An Element of Hope", based on the research of our team member, Natalia Koutsougera, within ReSpell, and directed by Natalia Koutsougera and Greek director George Danopoulos, was screened online at the Ethnofest Film Festival in Athens, 1-7 of December 2025.

public talk

Joana Martins, the postdoctoral researcher of ReSpell, was an invited speaker at the Museu de Arqueologia e Etnografia do Distrito de Setúbal, integrated in the museum celebration of Women’s International Day, Setúbal, Portugal, 7 March 2026, where she talked about: 'Entre os Ecos do Passado e o Devir: Paganismo Contemporâneo em Portugal.'

radio interview

Luis Muñoz Villalon participated in the radio show 'Perspectiva Andaluza' on Canal Sur Radio, as a specialist in anthropology of religion, commenting on the latest statistical studies regarding 'The rebirth of faith'.

(Saturday, March 21, 2026).

https://audio.canalsurmas.es/videos/category/31549-perspectiva-andaluza?cat=31550

public talk

Joana Martins, the postdoctoral researcher of ReSpell, was an invited speaker at the Feira do Oculto e Esoterismo, 22 March 2026, Lisbon, Portugal, where she talked about: 'Somos as [netas das] Bruxas: imagens, vivências e resistências.'

online seminar: 'Frictions and Time: Harnessing Contradictions to Generate New Interpretations of Temporality'

Presentation given by the co-PI Anastasios Panagiotopoulos at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the
Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. Seminar organizers: Diana Espirito Santo and Ruy Blanes. 6 and 7 April 2026.

public talk

Joana Martins was invited to participate at the Sintra Fire Fests: Beltane, organized by Projeto Terra – Associação Cultural em parceria com a Black Moon Society (BMS – Produções), Quinta da Ribafria, Sintra, 1-3 May 2026, where she talked about: 'Celebrar o Mais-Que-Humano: celebrações cíclicas como relação, participação no mundo e regeneração no contexto do Paganismo em Portugal.'

Roundtable: Art and Spirituality

23 May 2026
3.30 pm
São Lázaro Library | R. do Saco 1, 1150-311 Lisbon

Free entry

In our everyday lives, art and spirituality intersect and flow together. Art is used to express and give form to personal and collective spiritual and religious connections; to make sense of uncertainty in the face of various contemporary crises (socio-economic, political, environmental, health); to encourage interconnection with the world; and to promote social change rooted in emotional bonds. In these intersections and this fluidity, art fosters creativity and personal and collective well-being, comfort and action.

What is the place of art in spirituality and of spirituality in art?

Drawing on the testimonies of three women with lived experience of eco-spiritualities and training in artistic fields such as writing, illustration and drawing, ceramics and tile-making, and dance, this roundtable discussion reflected on these intersections in their daily lives, in their engagement with the world and in the shaping of the future.

With Camila Mortari, Lykaia and Rita Martins Duarte.
Moderated by Joana Martins (CRIA NOVA FCSH).

This conversation is organised as part of the Anthropology Research Project ReSpell, hosted by CRIA, in partnership with Equid'artes, Rodas de Conversa.

Organising team: Camila Mortari, Joana Martins, Lykaia, Marta Amorim, Rita Martins Duarte.

radio podcast

Joana Martins was invited to the Podcast 90 segundos de Ciência, where she spoke about ReSpell: https://cria.org.pt/en/joana-martins-cria-nova-fcsh-featured-in-90-segundos-de-ciencia