Abstract

With the following project I want to understand the way Neopagan beliefs, principles and practices in Portugal are disseminated, transformed and experienced considering the social and political impact it has on the public and social domain, compared to the United Kingdom. Since Neopaganism is a religious and spiritual movement that includes several trends, practices, groups and individuals that celebrate and advocate the protection and respect for nature and the feminine. Therefore, the central aim of this project is to elucidate how this expression of contemporary spirituality impacts politically and socially the public domain, mainly in its search for recognition as a religious movement, and in establishing a constructive dialogue about the solutions and actions that can be found for the current social and ecological problems, and in the search for gender equality. The importance of this project is given by conceding that the visibility and presence of Neopaganism in the United Kingdom, contributed to the debates about ecology and gender, something that might happen in Portugal. Since the presence of these groups is growing exponentially in the public domain, influenced by what is produced in the United Kingdom this also allows us to rethink the relationship between the local and the global.

Team