Transreligious Practices beyond the dogma:
Wellbeing, Healing and Crisis in Southern Europe.
Athens, Greece,
3-4 October 2024
Department of Social Anthropology, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, 136, Syngrou Avenue, 17671, Athens.
CONFERENCE PROGRAMME
DAY 1, THURSDAY, 3rd of OCTOBER 2024
09h15 – 10h00: Registration
10h00 – 10h15: Welcome Speeches
10h15 – 10h30: Opening Speech, Diana Riboli, on behalf of the Organizing Committee
10h30 – 11h30: Keynote Lecture: ‘Intricate Trajectories in the Transreligious Landscape’
Terhi Utriainen, University of Helsinki
11h30 – 11h50: Coffee Break
Session I: WELL-BEING LANDSCAPES OF RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY, NATURE AND THE SACRED
Chair: Nicolas Boissière
11h50 – 12h10: Sacred Healing: Contemporary Pagans Transreligious Approaches to Healing and Well-Being in Portugal, Joana Martins, CRIA NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST.
12h10 – 12h30: Spiritual practices within the Cycladic backdrop: mapping modern yoga and wellness industry in Greece, Violetta Koutsoukou, Department of Social Anthropology, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences.
12h30 – 12h50: Sustainable Religion, Spirituality and Healing: Re-Inhabiting Sacred Landscapes in southern Europe, Eugenia Roussou, CRIA-Iscte / IN2PAST.
12h50 – 13h05: Discussion
13h05 – 14h30: Lunch Break
Session II: TRANSRELIGIOUS MATERIALITIES, SENSORIALITIES AND COSMOLOGIES
Chair: Diana Espírito Santo
14h30 – 14h50: The magical world of 'transreligiosity' in northern Greece: popular rituals as acts of decolonial pilgrimage pray, sensorial, embodied and material cosmo-ontology, Fotini Tsibiridou, University of Macedonia.
14h50 – 15h10: Spiritual assemblages in a transreligious world: The case of hip-hop, Natalia Koutsougera, Department of Social Anthropology, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences.
15h10 – 15h30: The Worship of Dr Sousa Martins: Spirituality and Health in Portugal, Emily Pierini, Sapienza University of Rome.
15h30 – 15h50: Umbanda in times of crisis: impacts of the covid-19 pandemic on Umbandists in Portugal, Janainna Pereira, Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon (ICS).
15h50 – 16h10: Discussion
16h10 – 16h25: Coffee Break
Session III: COMMUNITY, TRADITION, INNOVATION
Chair: Diana Riboli
16h25 – 16h45: Transreligiosity and Religious Revitalization in Modern Greece: Creating Community on the Margins, Evgenia Fotiou, University of Crete.
16h45 – 17h05: After the Buddha: Tradition, Authenticity and Innovation in Italian Buddhism, Matteo Di Placido, Department of Cultures, Politics and Society, University of Turin and Stefania Palmisano, Department of Cultures, Politics and Society, University of Turin.
17h05 – 17h25: Between Biomedicine, Psychology, the Qu’ran and Magic: Remedies for Mental Suffering among Minority Women in Rhodope, Eleni Mavroeidi, Department of Social Anthropology, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences.
17h25 – 17h45: Hare Krishna for Everyone: Plurality in ISKCON Lisbon Temple, Caio Cézar Busani, ISCTE - University Institute of Lisbon.
17h40 – 18h05: Discussion
End of Day 1.
DAY 2, FRIDAY, 4th of OCTOBER 2024
Session IV: RITUALISM, MYSTICISM AND THE SECULAR
Chair: Anastasios Panagiotopoulos
09h45 – 10h05: Contemporary Spirituality in Catholic Italy: Nature, Well-Being, and Mystery, Stefania Palmisano, University of Turin.
10h05 – 10h25: Attending to the demand for spirituality in post-secular Catholicism. Dialogues at the religious-spiritual frontiers, Luis Muñoz Villalón, University of Seville.
10h25 – 10h45: Ritual elements of Benzimentos in Portugal, Natasha Martins, ReSpell, CRIA-Iscte / IN2PAST.
10h45 – 11h00: Discussion
11h00 – 11h15: Coffee Break
Session V: TECHNIQUES OF HEALTH, HEALING AND WELL-BEING
Chair: Emily Pierini
11h15 – 11h35: Is the use of unconventional therapies in the field of mental health and disability in France a sign of a crisis in the health system or is it the cause of the crisis in the health system itself?, Denise Lombardi, GSRL – EPHE.
11h35 – 11h55: Constellations of familiarity, unfamiliar revelations: transreligious techniques between wellbeing and crisis, Anastasios Panagiotopoulos, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Seville.
11h55 – 12h15: The Inner Journeys to Health: Spiritual Approaches to haleness among Tenerife’s Hinduists and Truth Seekers, Mario Martín Páez, Universidad Complutense de Madrid / Universidad de La Laguna.
12h15 – 12h30: Discussion
12h30 – 14h00: Lunch Break
Session VI: TRANSRELIGIOSITY AND CRISIS BEYOND SOUTHERN EUROPE: COMPARATIVE APPROACHES OF THEORY AND ETHNOGRAPHY
Chair: Terhi Utriainen
14h00 – 14h20: ‘Native American’ medical centers in Israel - the formation of religious-spirituality and Native American therapy in Israel, Idan Edut, University of Haifa.
14h20 – 14h40: Healing in a Contemporary Pagan Tradition: The Case of Druidry in Quebec (Canada), Nicolas Boissière, University of Quebec, Montreal.
14h40 – 15h00: ‘May Our Hearts Rise Up in Prayer’: Responses of Russian-Speaking Immigrant Israeli Reform Congregations to the Russo-Ukrainian War, Elazar Ben-Lulu, Ariel University.
15h00 – 15h20: Spiritual Wellbeing and Universal Wellbeing Concepts - a discussion
Lidia Guzy, University College Cork.
15h20 – 15h40: Rethinking religion outside of the conceptual boundaries of anthropology: a disciplinary crisis, Diana Espírito Santo, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.
15h40 – 16h05: Discussion
16h05 – 16h30: Coffee Break
Session VII: VISUAL REPRESENTATION OF RESPELL
16h30 – 17h30: Display of Ethnographic Videos by ReSpell team members
17h30 – 18h00: Final Discussion and Closing Remarks