Short Abstract

Moving beyond simple reading alternative spirituality as either gender-essentialist or (eco)feminist, this panel examines how gender identities are constructed within the alternative spirituality milieus, with particular interest in contestations over different notions of gender relations.

Long Abstract

The alternative spirituality, sometimes called holistic or New Age–derived, often frames gender as two distinct poles: male and female. These are frequently understood in cosmological terms, as complementary forces (such as the “divine masculine” and “divine feminine” ). Harmonizing these poles is considered central to human well-being and happiness.

The academic discussions about gender within this context were partly shaped by similar polarization: some have highlighted empowering aspects of alternative spirituality and various overlaps with (eco)feminist thought (especially in the USA and Western Europe), while others have taken a critical stance to gender-essentialist (and thus assumed to be conservative) notions of gender within the milieu. Recently, some scholars have begun to employ a more nuanced perspective, for example by suggesting that even deeply gender-essentialist worldviews might be tied to empowerment (Sointu and Woodhead 2008), or by showing how female-dominated spaces, both offline and online, are increasingly becoming more and more integral for politics informed by conspiratorial narratives (Bloom and Moskalenko 2021).

This panel invites papers that move beyond simple categorization of “progressive” and “conservative,” and explore how different gender relations and identities are constructed within the alternative and holistic milieus. While women have been a major focus on research concerned with gender in this context, we would also appreciate contribution focused on queer bodies and identities, as well as on (re)articulation of masculinities. We are particularly interested in tensions that emerge around these different articulations of gender, especially given the contemporary contestations and mobilizations for, and against, the multiplicity of gender identities and relations.

This Panel has 1 pending paper proposal.
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