March 22th 2022 | 19:45-21:30 | Café de Tussentijd
Modernization is often associated with secularization. But during the last decades, new spiritual movements have flourished more than ever before in Europe. In this interactive evening, Dr. Margreet van Es will focus on the Dutch ‘Lady of the Light’ Jomanda (Joke Damman), who became highly popular (and at least equally controversial) as a healing medium in the 1990s. Clothed in angelic blue dresses, she held large healing gatherings in Tiel. She also ‘infused’ bottles of tap water so that it would gain curative properties – on location, or even remotely via radio or television. What can the rise and fall of Jomanda tell us about Dutch society in the 1990s, and about modernization and religious change more generally?
Dr. Margreet van Es is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Utrecht University, where she teaches courses such as The Sociology of Religion, Religion and Conflict, Fundamentalism in Christianity and Islam, and Doing Research in Religious Studies. Her current research project focuses on the emergence of trendy, alcohol-free halal restaurants in Rotterdam.
This talk will take place at Café Tussentijd. Sign up via this link: https://forms.gle/HyW9TPQesHWp8Hj39