Engendering liminality: The experience of re-enchantment in wild woman workshops

According to Paul Heelas, new spiritualities radicalize the expressivist strand in modernity and, hence, not only affirm modern values but also react against them. In particular, they challenge the ‘bounded self' as foundational for the modern being and progress. Charles Taylor, in discussing t...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Plancke, Carine (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage [2019]
In: Social compass
Year: 2019, Volume: 66, Issue: 3, Pages: 418-434
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Woman / Spirituality / Limitedness / Tantrism / Ritual
IxTheo Classification:AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism
AG Religious life; material religion
AZ New religious movements
Further subjects:B anti-structure
B bounded self
B Ritual
B women's spirituality
B civilizing process
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
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Summary:According to Paul Heelas, new spiritualities radicalize the expressivist strand in modernity and, hence, not only affirm modern values but also react against them. In particular, they challenge the ‘bounded self' as foundational for the modern being and progress. Charles Taylor, in discussing the emergence in modern times of ‘the buffered self', points to three important changes: disenchantment, the loss of the complementary play between structure and anti-structure, and the replacement of the idea of cosmos with that of a neutral, mechanical universe. This article, through a detailed ethnographic study, explores how these changes are temporally counteracted in spiritual women workshops in North-West Europe focused on the trope of the ‘wild woman'. Moreover, it shows that these retreats bring into being ritual spaces of liminality, which have the potential to engender experiences of re-enchantment and/or give a new sense of interpersonal and cosmic connection.
Selon Paul Heelas, les nouvelles spiritualités radicalisent le courant expressiviste de la modernité et, par conséquent, non seulement affirment les valeurs modernes, mais réagissent aussi contre elles. En particulier, ils remettent en question le « moi limité » en tant que fondement de l'être moderne et du progrès. Charles Taylor, en discutant de l'émergence dans les temps modernes du « moi tampon », souligne trois changements importants: le désenchantement, la perte du jeu complémentaire entre structure et anti-structure, et le remplacement de l'idée du cosmos par celle d'un univers neutre et mécanique. À travers une étude ethnographique détaillée, cet article explore comment ces changements sont temporellement contrecarrés dans des ateliers de femmes spirituelles dans le nord-ouest de l'Europe centrés sur le trope de la « femme sauvage ». Par ailleurs, cela montre que ces ateliers mettent en place des espaces rituels de liminalité, qui ont le potentiel de générer des expériences de réenchantement et/ou de donner un nouveau sens de connexion interpersonnelle et cosmique.
ISSN:1461-7404
Contains:Enthalten in: Social compass
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/0037768619843817