(Please find the recording at the end of the post)
Our first Easter term 2023 panel titled ‘Indigenous Spirituality: Traditional Knowledge, Wellbeing, and Healing’ took place on Wednesday 17th of May. In this panel we explored traditional practices of wellbeing and healing that complement or stand as an alternative to traditional medicine in the clinical practice of local and Indigenous communities, from America to India and the South Asian country of Bhutan. Through the exploration of illness and its treatments, we will develop a nuanced understanding of different ways of experiencing human health, in particular how mental health is conceived as one with that of the body in many traditional therapeutic approaches.
We are grateful for the following panellists:
Dr Joseph Calabrese. Reader of Medical Anthropology at UCL and a UK-registered clinical psychologist. His research combines anthropological study of mental illness experiences and treatment approaches with local clinical practice among Native Americans, in the South Asian country of Bhutan, and with people having severe psychiatric illnesses in Chicago and Boston. He holds a PhD from the University of Chicago and has held research, teaching, and clinical posts there, at Harvard Medical School, and at the University of Oxford.
Dr Karuna Nagarajan. Associate Professor and Deputy Director of Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana Open and Digital Learning (ODL, S-VYASA) Deemed to be University. She is founder of the Svaraveda Foundation, dedicated to Indian Music, Indian Music therapy Courses and research, and is Professor for Hatha Yoga and Patanjali Yoga Sutra at Vivekananda Yoga University in Los Angeles (1st Yoga university outside India focused on graduate Yoga education and research). She worked as an expert committee member for curriculum development at the University Grants Commission, the National Council for Teacher Education, the Indira Gandhi National Open University, the National Institute of Open Schooling, the Health Sector Skill Council and the Quality Council of India.
The panel was moderated by ISDG co-Convenor Sara Corona.