Religion and Touch - Christina Welch

Religion and Touch - Christina Welch

Religion and Sense of Touch

Religion and Touch - Christina Welch

Christina Welch [+-]
University of Winchester
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Dr Christina Welch is a Reader in Religious Studies at the University of Winchester. She is an interdisciplinary scholar with research interests in the relationship between religions and material and visual culture, notably in relation to death; her research into Northern European erotic death art, and British and Irish cadaver sculptures speaks to this. She gained her PhD in 2005 exploring the role of popular visual representation in the construction of North American Indian and Western Alternative Spiritual identities, and has continued to explore issues around indigeneity and identity construction, most recently writing about the Garifuna of St Vincent. Over the past 14 years Christina has led the Masters degree in Death, Religion and Culture, teaching many death professionals from as funeral directors and death doulas, to embalmers and palliative are leads, as well as people just interested in death as a subject of academic study.
Amy Whitehead [+-]
Massey University
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Dr Amy Whitehead is a Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology at Massey University in Aotearoa New Zealand with a background in the Study or Religions. She specialises in ritual, NRM’s, and the material and performance cultures of religions.

Description

Plate says: ‘By focusing on the vital role that the sensual body plays in human experiences of the world, we are able to investigate religious traditions in ways that complement and expand traditional approaches to religion’ (2012: 162). Contributions to this collection have done just that. They have brought new, fresh and innovative ideas about how utilising the sense of touch can advance debates about sensually engaged religion. In taking a bottom-up approach to studying touch in religions, we are able to glean an abundance of possibilities that are visibly evidenced through practitioners’ performances. As the chapters demonstrate, touch is not privileged, highlighted or avoided to the same degree across the board but the roles of touch, as well as its absence, speak volumes about religious phenomena broadly. Although this volume has been unable to engage with the full range of touch-oriented religious activities that exist in the world, the contributors have provided exemplary case studies that signal new areas, approaches and methods for future research. We hope that this book provides a catalyst for such studies.

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Citation

Welch, Christina; Whitehead, Amy. Religion and Sense of Touch. Religion and Touch. Equinox eBooks Publishing, United Kingdom. p. 1-21 Sep 2021. ISBN 9781800500334. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=42168. Date accessed: 05 Oct 2024 doi: 10.1558/equinox.42168. Sep 2021

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