Dr. Helmar Kurz
News
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Research
My research areas are the Anthropology of Religion, Medical Anthropology, Transcultural Psychiatry, and the Anthropology of the Body and the Senses. A particular research field is the Aesthetics of Healing, which I explored for the case of Brazilian spiritual and religious therapies in the DFG-funded research project "Diversification of Mental Health: Therapeutic Spaces of Brazilian Spiritism" implemented by Prof. Dr. Helene Basu between 2015 and 2018.
Currently, I am interested in Healing Tourism and Inequalities in (Mental) Healthcare with a focus on translocal relations between Brazil, Europe, India, and South Africa, encompassing the Indian Ocean and the Transatlantic.
Research Focus
- Trans-/Cultural Psychiatry
- Psychological anthropology
- Medical and religious anthropology
- Anthropology of the body and the senses
- Ritual theory
- Performance
Research Area
- Brazil
- Germany
- Transatlantic
Teaching
- Ethnographic research methods [082875]
- Seminar: Transatlantic Health and Healing [080887]
(in cooperation with Prof. Dorothea Schulz)
- Seminar: Translocal Relationships [088877]
- Seminar: Media - Aesthetic Negotiation & Anthropological Approaches [086882]
- Projektseminar: Care & Well-Being in Research & Practice [084879]
- Seminar: Spiritual and Mental Aspects of Health: Approaches in Cultural & Social Anthropology [082875]
- Seminar: Religion and Medicine in non-European Cultures. Religious-Aesthetic and Medical-Ethnological Aspects of Healing [020598]
- Projektseminar: Spirits, Selves & Societies: Global Mental Health from an Anthropological Perspective [080879]
- (Mental) Health & Wellbeing in Social Anthropology [080888]
- Seminar: Global Mental Health [088875]
(in cooperation with José-Marie Koussemou)
- Projektseminar: Trans/Cultural Psychiatry [086880]
(in cooperation with José-Marie Koussemou)
- Vorlesung: Spirit, Healers and Spirit-Healers . Trans/Cultural Psychiatry as Method of Cultural and Social Comparison at the Intersection of Religious and Medical Anthropology [081068]
- "Are You Nuts?!" - Mental Health in Social & Medical Anthropology [089078]
- Seminar: Transcultural Psychiatry [085104]
(in cooperation with José-Marie Koussemou) - Seminar: Transcultural Psychiatry [085105]
(in cooperation with José-Marie Koussemou)
- Seminar: Trans/Cultural Psychiatry II: Research Areas, Methods and Project Design in Interdisciplinary Medical Anthropology [088851]
(in cooperation with José-Marie Koussemou) - Projektseminar: Trans/Cultural Psychiatry II: Research Areas, Methods and Project Design in Interdisciplinary Medical Anthropology [088780]
(in cooperation with José-Marie Koussemou) - Training Course: Introduction to Empirical Research Procedures [088775]
Publications
Books
Books (Monographs)
- Kurz, Helmar. . Fern/Sehen, Vol. 6, Performanz und Modernität im brasilianischen Candomblé. Eine Interpretation Hamburg: Verlag Dr. Kovač.
Commemorative Publications
- Koch, Julia, Kurz, Helmar, Pande, Mrinal, and Strauss, Annika, eds. . Wissenschaftliche Schriften der WWU Münster - Reihe X, Vol. 35, Practices of Transformation - Transformation of Practices: Essays in Honour of Helene Basu Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag. doi: 10.17879/94059472825.
Articles
Articles in Scientific Journals, Newspapers or Magazines
Special Issues of Journals
- Kurz, Helmar, ed. .“Aesthetics of Healing: Working with the Senses in Therapeutic Contexts.” Special Issue Curare 3+4.
Research Articles (Journals)
- Kurz, and Helmar. . “Spiritism in Germany: A Resource of Integration for Brazilian Migrants?” International Journal of Latin American Religions, № 8 doi: 10.1007/s41603-024-00233-0.
- Kurz, Helmar, and Strauss, Annika. . “Framing Experiences: Diagnosing and Explaining Dissociative Phenomena in Indian and Brazilian Mental Health-Care Institutions.” Curare, № 41 (3+4): 159–168.
- Kurz, Helmar. . “Transnational and Transcultural Transfer of Therapeutic Practice: Healing Cooperation of Spiritism, Biomedicine, and Psychiatry in Brazil and Germany.” Curare, № 41 (1+2): 39–53.
- Kurz, Helmar. . “Diversification of Mental Health Care - Brazilian Kardecist Psychiatry and the Aesthetics of Healing.” Curare, № 40 (3): 195–206.
- Kurz, Helmar. . “"Depression is not a Disease. It's a Spiritual Problem." - Performance and Hybridization of Religion and Science within Brazilian Spiritist Healing Practices.” Curare, № 38 (3): 175–193.
Conference Reports (Journals)
- Kurz, Helmar, and Sabernig, Katharina. . “Visual Expressions of Health, Illness and Healing. Bericht zur 34. Jährlichen Fachtagung der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Ethnologie und Medizin (AGEM) in Kooperation mit der Österreichischen Ethnomedizinischen Gesellschaft (ÖEG) und dem Weltmuseum in Wien, 2.-4. Juni 2022.” Curare, № 42 (1+2): 113–117.
- Kurz, Helmar. . “Affective Arrangements in Mental Health Care Settings, Report on the International Conference organized by the Collaborative Research Center 1171 ‘Affective Societies’, Berlin, September 24-26, 2018.” Curare, № 42 (1+2): 119–121.
- Kurz, Helmar, and Nauber, Marion. . “Aesthetics of Healing.Working with the Senses in Therapeutic Contexts. Bericht zur 32. Jährlichen Fachtagung der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Ethnologie und Medizin (AGEM e.V.) an der Westfälischen Wilhelmsuniversität Münster, 24.-26. Mai 2019.” Curare, № 42 (1+2): 132–138.
Research Article (Book Contributions)
- Kurz, Helmar. . “Sensory Ethnography and Anthropology of Mediumship: Aesthetics of Brazilian Spiritist Practices in Well-Being and Healing.” in Other Worlds, Other Bodies: Embodied Epistemologies and Ethnographies of Healing, edited by Emily Pierini, Alberto Groisman and Diana Espirito Santo. New York City: Berghahn Books.
- Kurz, Helmar. . “Politics and Aesthetics of Care: Chronic Affliction and Spirituality in Brazilian Kardecism.” in Spiritual, Religious, and Faith-Based Practices in Chronicity: An Exploration of Mental Wellness in Global Context, edited by Andrew Hatala and Kerstin S. Roger. London: Routledge.
- Kurz, Helmar. . “Geist, Heilung und Geistheilung – Spirituelle Obsession und Mediumismus als Erklärungsmodell und Therapieansatz im Schnittfeld religiös-spiritueller und psychiatrischer Heilpraxis: Spiritismus in Brasilien und Deutschland.” in Ganzheitsmedizin IV: Der Weg zu einem neuen Bewusstsein der Heilung, edited by Christine E.H. Krebber. München: Institut für Ganzheitsmedizin.
- Kurz, Helmar. . “Affliction and Consolation: Mediumship and Spirit Obsession as Explanatory Models within Brazilian Kardecist Mental Health-Care.” in Legitimidades da Loucura: Sofrimento, Luta, Criatividade e Pertença, edited by Mônica Nunes and Tiago P. Marques. Salvador: EDUFBA.
Review (Journals)
- Kurz, Helmar. . “Pierini, Emily (2020): Jaguars of the Dawn: Spirit Mediumship in the Brazilian Vale do Amanhecer. New York: Berghahn.” Curare, № 45 (2): 125–127.
- Kurz, Helmar. . “Vaitl, Dieter (ed. 2020): An den Grenzen unseres Wissens: Von der Faszination des Paranormalen. Freiburg: Herder.” Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, № 85 (4): 238–241.
- Kurz, Helmar. . “Zhang, Li (2021): The Origins of Covid-19. China and Global Capitalism. Stanford: University Press.” Curare, № 44 (1-4): 161–166.
- Kurz, Helmar. . “Lock, Margaret & Nguyen, Vinh-Kim (2018): An Anthropology of Biomedicine. Second Edition. Oxford: Wiley & Blackwell.” Curare, № 44 (1-4): 149–151.
- Kurz, Helmar. . “Reyes-Foster, Beatriz M. (2019): Psychiatric Encounters: Madness & Modernity in Yucatan, Mexico. New Brunswick: Ruthers.” Curare, № 44 (1-4): 152–154.
- Kurz, Helmar. . “Shonin, Edo; van Gordon, William; Griffiths, Mark D. (2016): Mindfulness and Buddhist-Derived Approaches in Mental Health and Addiction. Heidelberg: Springer.” Curare, № 43 (1+2): 113–117.
- Kurz, Helmar. . “Deane, Susannah (2018): Tibetan Medicine, Buddhism and Psychiatry: Mental Health and Healing in a Tibetan Exile Community. Durham: Carolina Academic Press.” Curare, № 43 (1+2): 121–122.
- Kurz, Helmar. . “Caldwell, Kia L. (2017): Health Equity in Brazil: Intersections of Gender, Race, and Policy. Urbana: University Press of Illinois Press.” Curare, № 42 (1+2): 153–154.
- Kurz, Helmar. . “Rocha, Cristina (2017): John of God: The Globalization of Brazilian Faith Healing. Oxford: University Press.” Curare, № 42 (1+2): 156–159.
- Kurz, Helmar. . “Wirtz, Ursula (2018): Stirb & Werde: Die Wandlungskraft traumatischer Erfahrungen. Ostfildern: Patmos.” Curare, № 42 (1+2): 165–168.
- Kurz, Helmar. . “Chirly dos Santos-Stubbe & Hannes Stubbe (2014): Kleines Lexikon der Afrobrasilianistik. Eine Einführung mit Bibliographie. Göttingen.” Curare, № 40 (4): 362–363.
- Kurz, Helmar. . “Julia Thiesbonenkamp-Maag (2014): ‘Wie eine Quelle in der Wüste‘: Fürsorge und Selbstsorge bei der philippinisch-charismatischen Gruppe El Shaddai in Frankfurt.” Curare, № 38 (4): 303–308.
- Kurz, Helmar. . “Wielant Machleidt (2013): Migration, Kultur und psychische Gesundheit. Stuttgart.” Curare, № 37 (1): 337–343.
- Kurz, Helmar. . “Godula Kossack (2012): Magie – Die Kraft zum Schaden oder zum Guten. Bad Schussenried.” Curare, № 37 (1): 77–78.
Project