Buijs Cunera, Welling Wouter (eds.) Healing Power: Living Traditions, Global Interactions Hardcover

Sidestone Press, 2021. — 170 p.Hidden healing practices exert fascination and stimulate extensive scientific and public interest. It is a contested topic for many indigenous peoples. Throughout the ages, numerous spiritual healing forms have been marginalized or severely persecuted. Nowadays, however, there is a growing interest in these traditions all over the world. Some are recovered and sometimes also mixed resulting in the blending of different indigenous and Western approaches.After the loss of the original spiritual contexts during the colonization period, indigenous peoples around the world revive parts of their cultural heritage. They also find inspiration in foreign cultural traditions. Next generations develop new ways to connect to the ancestors and search for new healing practices. This publication explores a limited selection of the manifold collective and individual healing practices, such as shamanism, winti, vodou and European witchcraft. Practitioners and/or academics share their insights and perspectives. Power objects and healing related art from the collection of the National Museum of World Cultures in the Netherlands reveal hidden meanings of sacred traditions. Contemporary artists are inspired by spiritual healing and renew its meaning in the present.Dr. Cunera Buijs (1958) is anthropologist and curator Arctic of the National Museum of World Cultures, Leiden. Her research interest lies in issues of dress and identity, and questions of ownership, authority and access. In 2004, she finished her PhD-thesis on clothing, its significance and role in Inuit society (Leiden University). Her publications have also focused on climate change and the trade boycott of sealskin.Drs. Wouter Welling (1964) is curator contemporary art at the National Museum of World Cultures. Since the 80s he has been working as an art critic and curator, mainly in the field of globalization and interculturality in the art world.