Health and Religious Diversity

Affiliated researchers

Kim Knibbe, Brenda Bartelink, Elena Mucciarelli, Gorazd Andrejc

About

What is health? What is wellbeing? And how do people work on improving their health and wellbeing? In most societies, including the Netherlands, there is a large variety of answers to these questions. Many people draw on religious and spiritual sources, practices and ideas to understand and make sense of their embodiment and any issues they may experience with their (mental) health. Also, they turn to spiritual practitioners and religious contexts for concrete strategies to improve their health and wellbeing.

Crucially, the researchers linked to this cluster analyze how these practices are framed by other (non-religious) actors, such as medical practitioners and public health policy makers. How do they understand people’s diverse strategies in improving health and wellbeing, including religious and/or spiritual strategies? How do these understandings interact with other factors, such as the intersection between religiosity and a migrant background? Which intentional or unintentional consequences do these views have in terms of including and excluding certain groups in medical contexts and in public healthcare?

Our methods are generally qualitative: ethnographic research, historical research and critical frame analysis.