RT Article
T1 Is Sacred Nature Gendered or Queer? Insights from a Study on Eco-Spiritual Activism in Switzerland
JF Religions
VO 13
IS 1
A1 Becci, Irene 1973-
A1 Grandjean, Alexandre
LA English
PB MDPI
YR 2022
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/180425164X
AB 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.
K1 New Age
K1 Switzerland
K1 eco-psychology
K1 Eco-spirituality
K1 Ecofeminism
K1 holistic practices
K1 Neo-shamanism
DO 10.3390/rel13010023