Paper short abstract:

This paper deals with (re)presentation of spiritual healing practices believed to have preventive and curative properties on several ailments, including mental health problems.

Paper long abstract:

This paper deals with (re)presentation of spiritual healing practices believed to have preventive and curative properties on several ailments, including mental health problems. Photos and videos from ethnographic research projects carried out in India and Indonesia will be used to illustrate and reflect on how to visually represent such practices. In particular, discussion will be prompted on the issue of capturing and representing practices that violate basic human right principles (as set, for instance, in the UN convention) and result in suffering imparted to the ill person.

The focus of the presentation will be on how to visually capture and present the "spiritual" and, more specifically, spiritual healing practices in a set moment, where the ethnographer is the non-participating witnesser of these practices.