Karen O'Brien-Kop and Suzanne Newcombe eds., "Religion, Spirituality and Public Health" (British Academy, 2025)
About this episode
This episode discusses the intersection of religion, spirituality, and public health through various epistemes.
Religion, Spirituality and Public Health: Competing and Complementary Epistemes (British Academy, 2025) focuses on exploring the role of different 'ways of knowing' or arriving at truth, i.e. epistemes, particularly those found in religious and alternative health milieus. While biomedical solutions offer a dominant narrative, these are articulated differently in global contexts. Moreover, individuals often draw upon alternative framings that are sometimes oppositional to and at other times engaged with directives from medical and governmental authorities. The focus of this volume is worldviews and epistemes that are often marginalised or rejected in dominant discourses -- from shamanism in Korea to African Pentecostalism in Britain, and from global online 'AntiVax' narratives to traditional Siddha medicine in South India. Detailed case studies explore the contested, competing and strategically aligned relationships between mainstream and marginal epistemes; between religious healing, spirituality and biomedicine; and between politics and belief. These explorations promote greater insight into how marginalised religious epistemes are employed. Which beliefs and practices are drawn…
People in this episode
Host: Marshall Poe
Guests: Karen O'Brien-Kop, Suzanne Newcombe
Topics covered
- religion
- spirituality
- public health
- epistemes
- biomedicine
- alternative health
Keywords
- religion
- spirituality
- public health
- biomedicine
- alternative health
- epistemes
- marginalized beliefs
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: British Academy
Places: Korea, Britain, South India
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