scholarly journals Gendering a Sacred Nature: Between Essentialism and Queer; Insights from a Study on Eco-Spiritual Activism in Switzerland

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
Irene Becci ◽  
Alexandre Grandjean
Keyword(s):  
Gender Issues ◽  
New Age ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Economic Capital ◽  
The Self ◽  
Spiritual Activism ◽  
French Speaking ◽  
Transition Network ◽  
Public Speakers ◽  
Mother Earth

Among eco-spiritual activists in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, gendered notions such as “Mother Earth” or gendered “nature spirits” are ubiquitous. Drawing on an in-depth ethnographic study of this milieu (2015–2020), this article presents some of the ways in which these activists articulate gender issues with reference to nature. The authors discuss the centrality of the notion of the self and ask what outputs emerge from linking environmental with spiritual action. We demonstrate that activists in three milieus—the New Age and holistic milieu, the transition network, and neo-shamanism—handle this link differently and thereby give birth to a variety of emic perspectives upon the nature/culture divide, as well as upon gender—ranging from essentialist and organicist views to queer approaches. The authors also present more recent observations on the increasing visibility of women and feminists as key public speakers. They conclude with the importance of contextualizing imaginaries that circulate as universalistic and planetary and of relating them to individuals’ gendered selves and their social, political, and economic capital.

The Relationship between Seeker and Spiritual Guide as portrayed in contemporary Western Sufi Autobiographies

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 297-332
Author(s):  
Kate Zebiri
Keyword(s):  
Life Writing ◽  
New Age ◽  
The Self ◽  
Individual Autonomy ◽  
Religious Authority ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Continuity And Discontinuity

This article aims to explore the Shaykh-mur?d (disciple) or teacher-pupil relationship as portrayed in Western Sufi life writing in recent decades, observing elements of continuity and discontinuity with classical Sufism. Additionally, it traces the influence on the texts of certain developments in religiosity in contemporary Western societies, especially New Age understandings of religious authority. Studying these works will provide an insight into the diversity of expressions of contemporary Sufism, while shedding light on a phenomenon which seems to fly in the face of contemporary social and religious trends which deemphasize external authority and promote the authority of the self or individual autonomy.

scholarly journals Assessing Overall Diet Quality: Development and Evaluation of the Performance of a Short Self-Administrated Questionnaire SCASA

Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 677
Author(s):  
Maaike Kruseman ◽  
Angeline Chatelan ◽  
Eddy Farina ◽  
Isabelle Carrard ◽  
Jeremy Cela ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Diet Quality ◽  
Quantitative Assessment ◽  
Construct Validation ◽  
Adult Population ◽  
The Self ◽  
Food Record ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Altman Plot ◽  
Bland Altman Plot ◽  
French Speaking

Several tools assessing diet quality have been developed over the last decades, but their use in public health and clinical practice is limited because they necessitate detailed quantitative assessment of food intake. Our goal was to develop and validate a score (Score d’Alimentation Saine, SCASA) based on a short self-administrated online questionnaire to assess overall diet quality. SCASA targets the adult population in French-speaking Switzerland, but it was designed in a way enabling its adaptation for other regions. The choice of the items involved experts and lay volunteers. Construct validation and inter-method reliability were assessed by screening meal plans and by comparing the self-rated scores with food-record derived scores (kappa and Bland–Altman). SCASA (17 components) discriminated adequately balanced from imbalanced meal plans (93–95% and 44–46% of maximal score). Agreement between self-assessed and food record-based scores ranged between >90% (3 items), 80–89% (3 items), 70–79% (4 items), and <70% (5 items). The Bland–Altman plot showed a mean difference of −1.60 (95% CI −2.36 to −0.84), indicating a slight overestimation of the self-assessed diet quality compared to the food record. SCASA offers a reliable way to assess overall diet quality without requiring burdensome data collection or nutrient calculations.

New age religion and the cult of the self

Society ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 46-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Tucker
Keyword(s):  
New Age ◽  
The Self ◽  
New Age Religion

Self, Career, and Gender Issues

2013 ◽  
pp. 79-111
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Contract ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Gender Role Conflict ◽  
Gender Issues ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
The Self ◽  
Discrepancy Theory ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Self Discrepancy

This chapter aims to: demonstrate the role of individual differences; identify how issues of the self, such as self-efficacy and self-esteem, can influence women’s career choice and career outcomes; discuss self-discrepancy theory in relation to gender role conflict in the workplace; evaluate if high self-esteem and self-efficacy can be advantageous to women working in male dominated occupations and industries; describe how internalised self-view, may contribute to gendered occupational segregation; and discuss the concept of the psychological contract and job satisfaction.

The Meaning of Denial

2021 ◽  
pp. 124-150
Author(s):  
Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi
Keyword(s):  
New Age ◽  
The Self ◽  
Eternal Life ◽  
Physical Body ◽  
Immortal Soul ◽  
Individual Consciousness ◽  
Early Manifestation

Could denial be a source of meaning? The meaning of denying death is clear, and most religions have been doing it for millennia. Claiming an immortal soul and thus denying the annihilation of our individual consciousness is something humans have embraced for more than 100,000 years. This chapter examines a group known as Physical Immortality, that many considered more bizarre than other belief minorities, because it promises its adherents eternal life in the same physical body they are inhabiting in this life. The author’s observations of the group and its members taught him that while the beliefs were indeed unusual, the members were ordinary and normal. It turned out to be an early manifestation of New Age activities in Israel. The group did not develop a distinct identity in its members, which was one reason for its decline. What characterized most followers was a playful openness to building up the self through support, belonging, and positivity, even if expressed in absurdities.

scholarly journals Who Am I? An Ethnographic Study Exploring the Construction of Organizational and Individual Self among Indian IT Employees

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-83
Author(s):  
A. Venkataraman ◽  
Chandra Shekhar Joshi
Keyword(s):  
Value Chain ◽  
Job Insecurity ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
The Self ◽  
It Industry ◽  
Labour Process ◽  
Gig Economy ◽  
Team Player ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Self

The self is both a sociological and a psychological construct. It is investigated in this paper from the perspectives of sociology of work, critical management studies and employment relations. Accordingly, drawing upon ethnographic research, this article seeks to unravel how an employee defines herself or himself in two realms—the organizational and the personal—respectively against the background of changing Indian IT industry marked by uncertainty and rising job insecurity. It examines how these two realms converge to bring about an individual’s sense of ‘dasein’ or being. The self is entwined in the value chain of the Indian IT labour process and, within it, soft HRM discursive practices seek to constitute and mould the ‘disciplined confessional self’ who is supposed to be not only autonomous but a proactive and proactive team player. This article identifies the sources from which the self finds definitions and validation in the liquid modern context of the ‘gig economy’. It seeks to reflect upon the ramifications arising out of the interplay between Western and Indian managerial repertoires and, finally, the interplay of caste and class against changing Indian societal norms and expectations. In doing so, it looks at the micro and macro means through which the self seeks to obviate its incoherence and find resonance and fullness. Given the volatile political economy of the Indian IT industry labour process, much of the work is repetitive and fragmented, and individuals feel alienated and burnt out after the initial excitement of experiencing the Sapient or Cisco way of life. They adopt various coping mechanisms reminiscent of Burawoy’s (1985) respondents to fight job insecurity and to secure their peer group’s acceptance. Thus, the onus of negotiating inherent dualities for finding meaning in the organizational realm, and yet leaving room for a transcendental individual coherent self whose larger ‘internal conversation’ transcends the existential concern of the structured antagonism of the wage–employment relationship, lies upon the individual rather than the organization.

scholarly journals Spiritual Activism. Saving Mother Earth in Sápmi

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 342
Author(s):  
Siv Ellen Kraft
Keyword(s):  
Power Plant ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
The South ◽  
Spiritual Activism ◽  
Mother Earth ◽  
Different Parts ◽  
The Way

Arctic Shaman Circle was founded in Oslo in November 2018. This article discusses what the Circle’s founding document refers to as “spiritual activism”, and how this was translated into action over the year that followed. I will follow one case in particular, which concerns plans for a power plant at the base of the mountain Aahkansnjurhtjie in the South Sámi area. Aahkansnjurhtjie is a sacred Sámi mountain, the shamans claim, and should be protected accordingly. My focus is on the learning processes that have emerged as the shamans have explored and argued the case, locally and nationally. I examine the negotiations that have happened along the way, in a political climate that has so far been hostile to religious arguments of any sorts, and in this example, involves a group that is contested among the Sámi. Finally, I look at the role of “indigeneity” in regard to claims, performances and responses to these particular concerns, as these have played out in different parts of the Sámi geography.

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