Crossing Boundaries
Featured Catholic Religious Tourism in the Iberian Peninsula : World Young Day Case Study View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Claudia Ribeiro Pereira Nunes
Like other tourism subgroups, religious tourism should be seen more in the current competitive environment, where the tourism and hospitality industries constantly search for new customer segments. According to Rinschede (1992), the tourism industry can inhibit a competitive relationship, where tourists feel they have no alternative but to compromise their spiritual beliefs in favour of a tourist experience. In this context, the research question is why young Catholics compromise their spiritual beliefs in favour of a tourist experience. To understand this special Catholic Religious Tourism experience for young people, the researcher interviewed fifteen young people (between 18-24) from Spain and Portugal who are participating in World Young Day (WYD), which will happen in Lisbon on August 1-6. Note that 12 will participate in WYD with a full week registration (235 euros), with everything included: food, accommodation, transport, insurance and WYD Kit. Three are volunteers. They will register with a discount and different price (145 euros). The researcher re-interviewed them after the event at the end of the year 2023. The outcomes and findings show that tourism and religion should be complementary on World Youth Day (WYD).
Embodying Islamic Spirituality: An Ethnographic Study of Muslim Women’s Expressions and Experiences of the Mevlevi Sufi Tariqa in London, England View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Samar Mashadi
This paper draws from ethnographic research conducted in London, England amongst Muslim women who engage in Mevlevi Sufism that includes the spiritual practices of sohbet (sacred discourse), dhikr (silent and vocalised remembrance of God) and Turning (whirling) as a platform for female expression of selfhood and spiritual devotion. Traditional understanding of mystical experience concerns transcendence of the ‘self’ and one’s corporeality in pursuit of the divine. This outlook overlooks the significance of the embodied experience found Mevlevi spiritual practices. Through field observation and dialogical narrative analysis of semi-structured interviews with Muslim women, I explore how embodied and somatic spiritual practices of the Mevlevi tariqa influence Muslim women’s conceptualisation of their bodies, their selfhood and their Islamic faith. I posit that Islamic spiritual practices, that directly engage the body in devotion and reverence for the Divine, represents a powerful platform for Muslim women to express their agency and selfhood. The research highlights how contemporary Muslim women in London utilise and experience ancient Islamic spiritual practices for spiritual healing and the formation of a selfhood that speaks to the divine feminine in Islam.
The Power of Cultural Humility as a Remedy for Ritual Desecration
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Raul Prezas, Paul Shockley
In the tradition of social constructionism, we will explore the power of cultural humility as a remedy for "ritual desecration" among religious communities. "Ritual desecration," a sociological term we have coined, occurs when specific community members are discriminated against, bullied, or marginalized by others. Consequently, the challenges, obstacles, and sufferings they experience are internalized, whereby they are not only "strangers" to their own community but also themselves. The consequences of ritual desecration can be deadly (e.g., suicide statistics among the LGBTQIA community). Thus, we explore how cultural humility can become a starting point for social and personal healing and well-being in religious communities and beyond.
Crossing the Boundaries of the Secular State: Indigenous Spirituality in Political Discourse in Mexico during AMLO‘s Presidency (2018-2024)
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Marta Wójtowicz Wcisło
This paper examines the phenomenon of the inclusion of elements associated with indigenous religious beliefs and practices in the discourse of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), President of Mexico in 2018-2024. The ceremony of handing over the insignia of power to AMLO by representatives of indigenous peoples on the day of his inauguration; the altars to the dead of indigenous peoples installed at the National Palace during the 2020 pandemic in 2020; the ceremony for Mother Earth to approve the Mayan Train – these are unusual events in the history of independent Mexico, in which the political governments of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries curtailed the power of the hegemonic Catholic Church and fought the politicized clergy, leading to the establishment of a secular state with legal barriers against religious interference in politics. The paper analyzes selected elements of AMLO's political discourse and their context in order to clarify the main issues involved in the phenomenon of incorporating elements related to indigenous religious beliefs and practices into Mexican politics: usurpation of indigenous identity and legitimacy, invention of tradition, use of religion for political purposes.
