The Latvian Sociological Association in collaboration with the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Office in Latvia is presenting a series of public discussions on topical processes in Latvia’s society. On the last Thursday of every month, Latvia’s key social scientists will be presenting their latest research on issues that concern everyone.
The second discussion “Are we living in the heyday of pseudoscience, occultism and esoteric teachings? will be held on February 28, 18:00, at the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Office in Latvia premises, Marijas str. 13/3, Berg Bazar, by Agita Misane, PhD, a Senior Researcher at Riga Stradins University.
Healers, water-diviners, soothsayers and fortune-tellers seem to be omnipresent. Shamans provide their services in conventional medical centres, public servants are learning mindfulness, and pedagogues discuss the best ways to teach indigo children. More than fifty years ago, Thomas Luckmann, one of the great minds of sociology, proposed the notion of invisible religion. It continues to be applied whenever alternative religiosity is studied. Currently, the invisible religion is quite visible indeed in public space. Does it mean that it is more and more important for an ever increasing number of people? How has the religious landscape has changed in Latvia? Should we mourn the loss of rationality in Latvia’s society?
In this talk Agita Misane will present her research on alternative or invisible religion, as well as discuss the ways in which sociology of religion theories and applied studies can help us in making sense of the complex current processes. Agita Misane is a scholar of religion and historian of ideas, specialising in the study of ideologies, especially nationalism, and contemporary religiosity.
