The 2016 conference of SIEF’s Ethnology of Religion working group was focused on the contemporary religious, spiritual, complementary and alternative healing practices in the Western world. As alternative, religious and integrative healing practices are not taken very seriously by a societal majority—usually only those who explicitly undergo or apply them are exponents—we regard it highly relevant to research such healing worlds.
Paradoxically, however, depending on the definition of the healing domain, many people in contemporary society arguably actually practice in daily life various basic forms of healing—from yoga to Zen to mindfulness. Perceived in that light it can be claimed that in reality such practices are becoming ‘mainstream’ rather than ‘alternative’. ‘Alternative’ and ‘religious’ healing practices are for this conference taken as one as, at least in part, they stem from the same thoughts and deliberations. The conference therefore wants to explore and discuss contemporary avenues of healing practices within the alternative/spiritual/religious domains of Western society.

Review conference, 30 november 2016.

Program conference ‘Religious and Alternative Healing in a Modern World’

The SIEF conference 2016 in Amsterdam has been made possible by:

• Foundation Research Everyday Life Culture
• The Leny de Boer-Van den Bronk Fund