At the Edge of the Sensible: Cultivating Doubt in Radically Engaged Anthropology and Spirituality

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Abstract

Transformative experiences have long been a central interest for anthropologists studying spiritual phenomena. During fieldwork, many ethnographers have themselves undergone such experiences, caused by and fueling their confidence in radical participation as the soundest approach to understanding spiritual phenomena. These anthropologists inadvertently find themselves faced with the question of the ontological status of such phenomena, responses to which range from embracing them as ontologically real to steering clear of judgment. Arguments pertaining to the authority of the anthropologist follow a similar path, belief either framed as a precondition for understanding such matters or as undermining analytical validity. This article outlines the third position. Based on radically engaged fieldwork conducted with people dedicated to spiritual and mindfulness–meditation training in Denmark, I explore doubt as a transformative experience. Doubt, I hold, destabilizes both ontological certainty and the alleged analytical invalidity of engaged anthropology, making doubt, I argue, a valuable anthropological disposition.
OriginalsprogDansk
TidsskriftEthos
Vol/bind49
Nummer3
Sider (fra-til)308-328
Antal sider21
ISSN0091-2131
DOI
StatusUdgivet - sep. 2021

Emneord

  • Denmark
  • mindfulness–meditation
  • epistemology
  • methodology

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