Roundtable Session In-person November Annual Meeting 2025

Spiritual Esoterisms

Abstract for Online Program Book (maximum 150 words)

This roundtable discussion explores the role of spiritual esoterisms in religious reflection. Taking inspiration from Nathan Snaza’s recent Tendings: Feminist Esoterisms and the Abolition of Man, we understand esoterisms to include some of what is traditionally considered the “Western esoteric” tradition, but also  modalities of worlding “in which more-than-human socialities and knowledge practices would be co-compositional” (2024, 10). In this case, we explore worlds where spiritual knowledges link humans and non-humans (including, potentially, departed ancestors and divinities) into socialities that are irreducibly material and spiritual, and where these socialities are bounded – inclusive of some but not all. The roundtable explores these questions with attention to Argentine gothic literature, the writing of James Baldwin, Lúkumi religious practices, and Hasidic prophylactic magic.

Tags
#esoterism #coloniaism #gothic literature #lukumi #James Baldwin #Hasidism