Spiritual Discourse Research Articles

Discourses of spirituality and leadership in nursing: a mixed methods analysis

To explore nursing discourses of spirituality and leadership. Global migration has brought unprecedented plurality to modern societies, and spirituality and religion into the purview of nurse leaders. An innovative mixed methods approach, including a literature review, qualitative research and philosophic analysis, was utilized to examine discourses of spirituality in contexts of nursing leadership. After a literature synthesis protocol, 38 nursing literature sources were reviewed. Two qualitative studies examining plurality in hospital and home health settings provided data from 13 nurse leaders. Philosophic inquiry added further depth and uncovered important underlying assumptions. Integrated analysis revealed a heterogeneous discourse in the nursing literature. Nurse leaders in the qualitative study evidenced awareness of the influence of spirituality and concern for inclusive health services, yet were cautious in integrating spirituality into leadership practices because of organisational and social influences. Assumptions regarding the role of leaders' spiritual values and the integration of spirituality into the workplace were revealed. Spirituality in nursing leadership is a relatively understudied field that is influenced by many contextual factors. Scholarly engagement and research are needed to analyse the grounds for and appropriate approaches to the integration of spirituality in nursing leadership. Nurse managers are positioned to facilitate this process in their organisations.

Spirit(ualitie)s of Science in Words and Pictures: Syncretising Science and Religion in the Cosmologies of Two Comic Books

This article contributes to recent interest in visuality in contemporary spirituality through a focus on comic books. It builds on the analysis of the discourse of reflexive spirituality regarding the syncretising of science and religion to examine how discursive and visual representations are combined in a mutually reinforcing way to invest a transcendent cosmological belief with a sense of realism. As a ‘hybrid’ medium that combines words and pictures, comics provide an opportune focus for such study and in recent times some comics creators have used them to set out such transcendent visions. Two such visions are examined: those of Dave Sim, writer-artist of Cerebus, and Alan Moore, writer of Promethea. Although both draw upon traditional religious/spiritual beliefs in combination with science, they do so in different ways. However, they use similar rhetorical techniques, including metaphor and synecdoche—features which this article elicits.

The Chimera in the Garden: Mystical Discourse, Paradox, and the Coincidence of Opposites in Meister Eckhart and Michel de Certeau

The Chimera in the Garden: Mystical Discourse, Paradox, and the Coincidence of Opposites in Meister Eckhart and Michel de Certeau Charlotte C. Radler (bio) When I was a young child, my father made the questionable parental decision of hanging a print of Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights above my bed. My sister and I would spend hours in wonderment, intently studying the profuse landscape of the triptych. Grafted into my memory are the images of the chimeras: the bird with a human-like body that consumes a human being; the human face with a cracked egg-like body and with trunk-like legs that rest in boats on a frozen lake where creatures are drowning; the half bird-half lion whirling in the parade of animals and human beings; the human being with a blueberry for a head who leans in towards his lover, to mention but a few. These chimeras in Bosch’s painting and Michel de Certeau’s analysis of it in his 1982 The Mystic Fable offer me an entrée into a discussion of de Certeau and the medieval mystic Meister Eckhart in terms of their shared understanding of mystical language, paradox, and the coincidence of opposites. In these brief reflections, I want to suggest that both thinkers engage in a complicated and frequently opaque apophatic process of what mystic Henry Suso calls driving out images with images, thus moving into a “beyond” afforded by the slippage between experience and image.1 Following a dialectical cadence that embraces otherness and sameness, the process moves beyond into what de Certeau refers to as the “delicious nowhere” of the Garden or into what, for Eckhart, is the blooming desert of the One, only to spring forth evermore into the motion between alterity and sameness and beyond.2 The chimeras in Bosch’s garden become, in a way, apt metaphors for this pulsating, dialectical procedure. An astonishing union of disparate parts, they gesture beyond themselves. In their heterogeneity, they constantly displace ossified meanings and orders, evoke a change of perspectives, and render reality nomadic. In the twenty-six years since de Certeau’s death, many different theories and trends have shaped interpretations of mystical and spiritual discourse and practices. Some postmodern thinkers, for example, have problematized metaphysics and meta-narrative discourse and attended to alterity, but they have sometimes embraced esotericism at the expense of robust communal spiritual [End Page 180] experiences. Other interpreters, perhaps influenced by analytic theology and philosophy, have tended to domesticate mystical discourse and the range of meanings within the spiritual imagination. How can mystical discourse, tethered to spiritual practices, express divine presence without subjugating it? This is one of the questions that preoccupied de Certeau throughout his work. And his distinctive approach to the question of apophatic experience retains considerable value for us today. In this essay, I want to consider how the kind of apophatic discursive procedures advocated by de Certeau can help scholars of spirituality and mysticism to address the complexities of engaging apophatic experience. I believe that de Certeau’s work—in its insistent attention to the need to continuously deconstruct and reconstruct discourse about the Divine—can be particularly useful in helping us circumvent the double perils of nihilism (sheer meaninglessness and the absence of transcendence) and reductionism (the flattening and domestication of transcendence and the fashioning of idols). De Certeau was himself aware of the important contributions that had been made to the conversation about these questions by earlier figures in the Christian spiritual tradition. But was it possible or meaningful to retrieve and extend such apophatic discourse in the postmodern world? De Certeau’s responses to this question were remarkably varied and creative and point the way toward how we might engage in a critical reappropriation of apophatic discourse in our own cultural moment. In what follows, I want to offer a modest contribution to this creative work by considering the remarkable correspondence between the approach to these questions undertaken by de Certeau and Meister Eckhart (whose influence on de Certeau’s thinking was profound). By placing Eckhart and de Certeau in each other’s company, their mystical, apophatic discourses—paradoxical and chimeric—open up...

Begging and belonging in the city: a semiotic approach

Citizens develop routine spatial enunciations through which they “domesticate” both the intensity of transition and the extension of distance implied by moving across a city and smooth out the frontiers between environments of belonging (e.g. home) and environments of non-belonging (e.g. the streets). Yet urban “accidents” constantly threaten the impermeability of such routine spatial enunciations. Beggars represent, from the point of view of citizens, an instance of such urban “accidents”. The primary goal of urban beggars is to intercept the routine spatial enunciations of citizens, stop them, and convince them to donate part of their money. In order to achieve these goals, beggars develop a series of micro-strategies that can be analyzed as both semiotic practices and urban performances. At the same time, citizens constantly reabsorb these micro-strategies in their routine spatial enunciations, pushing beggars to the elaboration of new strategies, and so on and so forth, in a continuous struggle between the citizens’ desire to protect their feeling of sedentary belonging and the beggars’ need to invade it. From this point of view, routines of sedentary belonging are a manifestation of power. But why are citizens willing to have their routine spatial enunciations through the city be stopped by all sorts of agencies (for instance, the commercial agency of advertisement), whereas they cannot wait to expel beggars from the urban landscape? Perhaps this discrepancy depends on the elimination of the spiritual discourse of charity from the urban arena?

Writing belief, reading belief: Adam Ashforth's Madumo: a man bewitched and Witchcraft, violence and democracy in South Africa

This article is impelled by the question: how do we as academics write (about) religious or spiritual belief? In a country like South Africa, and many other postcolonial societies, this is a question which demands address, as religious and spiritual discourses pervade public and private life in ways that they may not in more secularized European contexts. In particular, how do we write credibly, sympathetically, and yet critically, about beliefs which we may not share (in the case of this article belief systems referred to in official discourse as “traditional African”, and often more colloquially as “witchcraft”), but which constitute the day-to-day realities of life for so many people – in which issues ranging from love relationships, to employment, housing, families, sport, health and security are mediated through a complex system of spiritual practices, which often emerge in public discourse generally only in their negative or sensational aspects. And in so doing, how do we rethink, reread and rewrite the larger issue of the place of the religious or spiritual in postcolonial modernities. I take as my case study two fascinating texts by Adam Ashforth on the subject of “witchcraft” in Soweto: Madumo: a man bewitched (2000); and Witchcraft, violence and democracy in South Africa (2005).

The Passion of Montgomery Clift (review)

Amy Lawrence Passion of Montgomery Clift University of California Press, 2010; 344 pages; $26.95 Amy Lawrence's Passion of Montgomery Clift is a monumental work that elegantly and captivatingly combines textual analysis in historical/cultural context, celebrity discourse analysis, and star biography. Quite remarkably, it succeeds at seamlessly integrating these elements while always keeping the concerns of each of them in the foreground. Organizing her study as an analysis of religious and spiritual discourse that has informed the construction of the star persona from the inception of popularity until long after death, Lawrence asserts at the outset that what distinguishes Clift from other stars who gained popularity in the 1950s is that his canonization preceded martyrdom (3). Additionally, she argues, the discourse of religion has been deployed not only in star reception, but also quite deliberately in the construction of the star persona by the film industry, and most significantly, by Clift himself. In fact, another distinctive aspect of this fascinating study is the emphasis that Lawrence places upon Clift's explicit awareness of star image as well as conscious and deliberate efforts to participate in regulating it-efforts that were challenged not only by sexuality and the anticipated consequences of its public revelation, but also by the car accident that would alter the contours of face along with star appeal. study is organized around stages and manifestations of sanctity and religious devotion, in conjunction with individual and groups of films discussed chronologically. The Face of a Saint articulates the pronounced effects of Clift's acting style and construction of masculinity upon audiences and fans early in career in conjunction with Search (1948) and Red River (1948). In conjunction with performance in From Here to Eternity (1953), Facing Persecution confronts growing suspicions and threats of scandal over the star's homosexuality, along with Clift's self-conscious awareness of the need to avoid or forestall scandal. Mortification of the Flesh centers upon the phenomenon of human suffering in versions of the star persona that emerged after the 1956 car accident, detailing Gift's efforts to intervene at a moment when the face that once signaled the profound qualities of the performance within cinematic narrative threatened now to become the unmistakable sign of the irrevocably compromised condition of the actor himself. Exploring contexts that remove Clift from the narrative constraints of heterosexual performance through roles as two very different doctors in Suddenly Last Summer (1959) and Freud (1962), A Gay Martyr discusses the actor's queerness in conjunction with positioning as a Sebastian-like figure through the narrative context of former films, and as bearing the brunt of blatantly homophobic director John Huston's ire on the set of the latter. Throughout the book, Lawrence maintains a balanced focus upon the object(s) of study, the critical discourses informing them, and her own very rich visual (and aural) experience of the star persona. She includes commentary that clarifies her own affective investment as a Clift fan and that defines her subject position in relation to the star; at the same time, even as she acknowledges that certain films or performances are not as resonant as others, she never privileges any of the star's works as more or less important to the study on the basis of her preferences. …

Spiritual episteme: sensemaking in the framework of organizational spirituality

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to enable the examination of sensemaking mechanisms, inherent in the discourse of organizational spirituality (OS), which embed meanings this discourse creates. In order to achieve this goal the paper explores the pivotal notion of “spirituality” in OS, examines the conditions of emergence of its main characteristics, and inquires into OS participants' mental processes which help to sustain it. Thus, the conceptual space is critically explored in which organizational actors make their commitments to attain goals by spiritual means and in which the alleged causal mechanisms operate.Design/methodology/approachThe approach taken is a critical analysis of literature and empirical material.FindingsThe logic of OS conceptual framework is vastly inconsistent with rationalism, which underpins typical functionalist assertions of OS proponents. The central OS notion – spirituality – lacks concrete and independent characteristics. It can be perceived as a mere classification tool which groups together certain “positive” phenomena, perspectives or outcomes. The legitimacy of this operation within the discourse is guaranteed by its episteme – the set of rules, which makes certain moves possible and excludes some others. It may easily enforce or preclude the particular interpretations of organizational reality or validity of certain initiatives. The latter hints at the political dimension of OS.Research limitations/implicationsPotential researchers should be sensitive to the issues of logical circularity of OS discourse and its degree of incoherence with rationalist assumptions. The design of research on OS should attempt to delve into meanings created by OS discourse profiting from proximity to research subjects ensured by careful application of qualitative methods. Research could focus more on the political dimension: issues of power relations; methods of exerting influence; gaining support, etc., instead of contemplating more vague territories which OS studies seem inclined to explore. These results refer to a limited number of participants and organizations and are not fully generalizable, which is inevitable in qualitative research. The geographical concentration of the research sample might have affected the results to some extent, however this fact is innocuous to the overall validity of this study.Originality/valueBeyond the scope of many recent papers that emphasize the positive role of organizational spirituality as a means of attaining particular objectives, the paper offers an alternative approach in which OS makes such calculations very difficult, and yet creates conditions which are conducive to advancing OS participants' political agendas.

Reading Nietzsche in the Wake Of the 2008-09 War on Gaza

This paper argues for a psychological understanding of Nietzsche's categories of master and slave morality. Disentangling Nietzsche's parallel discourses of strength, superiority, and spirituality in the first essay of On the Genealogy of Morals, I argue that master and slave morality are better understood as ethical practices of the self than surrogates for either a binary classification of strength and weakness or a political demarcation of oppressor and oppressed. In doing so, I offer an application of this analysis to the horrific violence visited upon the Gaza Strip by Israel in its 2008-09 military assault. 1 IN LATE JANUARY 2009, I SAT DOWN to re-read Nietzsche's On the Genealogy of Morals. I remember this otherwise uneventful event so distinctly because, at that moment, Israel's war on Gaza was brutally and unremittingly underway. During this 3-week-long military attack, Israel killed over 1400 Palestinians, most of whom were civilians and approximately 400 of whom were children. Israel, in fact, deliberately targeted civilians—including children and humanitarian aid workers—assaulting Palestinians simultaneously by air, land, and sea, and deploying white phosphorus against them, a chemical intended to operate as a smokescreen for troop movements but when used as a weapon burns people's flesh down to the bone. 2 The brutality of Israel's war was all the more agonizing

El celo espiritual y militar de la orden franciscana y la monarquía hispánica en una pintura de la <i>Inmaculada</i> de Pedro López Calderón

This article focuses on analyzing the Allegory of the heavenly Jerusalemand the Franciscan Order, painting formerly considered to be anonymous, located in the sacristy of the church of San Miguel in Mexquitic (San Luis Potosi, Mexico). The author reports on the findings –based on primary sources and on-site examination of the canvas– that enabled him to determine the artist and date of this painting. He likewise discusses the formal and iconographic aspects of the work, explaining the military and spiritual discourse by which the mystery of the Immaculate Conception was defended by the Spanish monarchy and the Franciscan Order. As a result, a new title is proposed: The Mystery of the Immaculate Conception

Experiential Validity

After giving a short introduction to Implicit Religion, this paper points out mutual benefits from linking psychology to the study of Implicit Religion. By employing accumulated knowledge of human cognition, behaviour and emotion, and making use of the apparatus of validated methodology, psychology can facilitate access to individual perceptions of the sacred and explore their consequences on attitudes, action, and personal well-being.
 Brief insights into the psychological research lines that are present in the Issue at hand are provided. Recent developments in research on meaning in life, selftranscendence, spirituality, and sanctification are described. Fruitful links to the study of Implicit Religion are proposed, suggesting further research on topics such as effects of implicit religiosity on personal, interpersonal, institutional and societal levels; the functioning of implicit-religious meaning systems in stressful circumstances of people’s lives; the distinction of horizontal and vertical selftranscendence, and overlaps in the discourses of spirituality and Implicit Religion.

Self‐realisation and control in the discourse practice of management coaching

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the construction of discourses in current popular management models described in the field of management coaching in order to examine the disciplining forms and the type of authority appeal drawn upon in these models.Design/methodology/approach – The authors apply a discourse analysis to two selected works on management coaching in order to investigate the rhetorical articulation of the coaching concept in terms of established discourses of management.Findings – It seems that the analysed works draw on both a rationalistic and a spiritual paradigm of disciplining. Self‐realisation is mainly a superficial change. The discourse pattern thus fits into a wider social postmodern context in which social order seems to be constituted through a blending of rational and spiritual discourse order.Practical implications – The analysis provides insight into the extent to which management coaching practices are likely to facilitate intrinsic employee involvement and he...

‘Big stuff in a beautiful way with interesting people’: The spiritual discourse in UK religious television

This article critically examines changes in the style and tone of religious broadcasting. Increasingly, a discourse of spirituality and faith is used by television producers to describe and discuss their output, as these are seen as less contentious and more audience-friendly ways of promoting faith-based programming. However, these themes continue to be framed within a recognizable set of religious traditions, mainly Christian. Combining interviews with producers and analysis of the BBC series Extreme Pilgrim (2008), this article examines the representation of spirituality as it is visualized and narrated. It analyses how this representation challenges traditional religious institutions, the new role it creates for broadcasters within lifestyle television, and discusses whether this subjective position can be conveyed authentically through the medium of television. The future of religious broadcasting rests on finding sustainable formats, yet these lifestyle formats offer distinct challenges in relation to their successful production and reproduction.

The Middle Voice in Eckhart and Modern Continental Philosophy

The recurring narrative of the relinquishment of human will animates the spiritual discourses of almost every mystical tradition. But contemporary discussions of spirituality gravitate towards exasperation when acknowledging the radical impotence of human agents, while much modern philosophy has found itself unable to think beyond the aporia of freedom and determinism.The ability to mediate between total subjective autonomy and radical dissolution in God is vital if we are to avoid the dualism that Meister Eckhart subverts with his conception of detachment (Gelassenheit). Heidegger takes up the terminology of Eckhart here, but provides a more philosophically astute sense of releasement. This article argues that both Heidegger and Eckhart draw upon the middle voice, an ancient linguistic mode that places agency between activity and passivity. By uncovering traces of the middle voice, I propose that philosophy and theology bear with a grammatical cleavage that constitutes our experience of the world.

The Challenges of Pluralism: Locating Religion in a World of Diversity

The author argues that religious pluralism is the normal state of affairs. Religion itself is multi-dimensional, and the several dimensions of religious and spiritual experience can be combined in myriad ways across individual lives. Preliminary findings from new research are presented, detailing modes of spiritual discourse that include mystery, majesty, meaning, moral compassion, and social connection. These dimensions find expression across multiple social institutions. In addition, religion is multi-traditional and organized by plural producers of the goods and services and events that embody and transform religious tradition. Finally, it is argued that religious pluralism must be studied in terms of the structures of power and privilege that allow some religious ideas to be given free voice, but limit the practice of other religious rituals or the gathering of dissident religious communities.

Ecology and Traditional Chinese Medicine in California

Ecology and Traditional Chinese Medicine in California Emily Wu In traditional Chinese cosmology, which includes contributions from Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, and other folk beliefs, the world consists of the heaven above, the earth below, and humans in the middle. The universe and all beings share the basic essence, and all are governed by the same set of principles that not only transcend but also correspond across categories and dimensions. Aspects of the natural world and different dimensions of human existence are categorized according to the shared principles of yinyang and five phases,1 and juxtaposed. Across dimensions and existences those that fall under the same categories share a common set of characteristics and would resonate. In other words, human beings are connected to nature because they correspond with the patterns of heaven and earth, and resonate with the cycles and movements in the environment. Aside from corresponding patterns, it is also believed that all in the cosmos are composed of and function by the shared life force called qi. Health, whether it is human health or environmental health (in Chinese terms, good fengshui2), is qualified by unobstructed and balanced flow of qi. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), a medical system developed with such cosmology as its backdrop, understands the human body and the nature as not only interconnected but also synchronized.3 In California, where ecological discussions on nature preservation and sustainable living are often informed by multicultural sensitivities and pluralistic spiritual understandings, practitioners of TCM find themselves inevitably contributing to the popular discourse as healers who mediate between Chinese and American cultural systems. Based on ethnographic research in the San Francisco Bay Area4 (hereafter referred to as the Bay Area), this essay will explore how these practitioners participate in the ecological discourse through their clinical practices and teaching, thereby contributing to the contemporary spiritual discourse in California. (Practitioners in this essay are identified by pseudonyms.) Practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine in the Bay area In the past few decades, TCM has become one of the leading alternative medical systems in the United States. In the year of 2001 alone, 2.1 million adults in the United States used acupuncture treatments.5 California was one of the first states to regulate TCM practitioners, who were, and still are, licensed as acupuncturists. In 1972, the state of California started regulating the practice of acupuncture under the supervision of biomedical physicians; by 1978, acupuncturists in California were already established as primary care providers (who require neither supervision nor referral by biomedical physicians).6 Approximately half of all licensed acupuncturists in the United States currently practice in California.7 By May 2009, a total of 13,110 acupuncture licenses had been issued in California, more than doubled the count of 6,300 licenses in 2000.8 Approximately one‐fifth of all licensed acupuncturists in California are currently practicing in the San Francisco Bay Area. According to a survey I conducted in 2006 on TCM practitioners across California, the profession consisted of 41% Caucasian American, 44% Chinese American, 10% other Asian Americans, and a small percentage of mixed and other ethnics; as I conducted fieldwork in the Bay Area, I found the ethnic demographic of TCM practitioners similarly composed.9 Legally regulated by the state, and where more than half of the licensed practitioners are non‐Chinese ethnics and largely American (Caucasian American), TCM provides services largely in the American mainstream. In the context of United States, within the predominantly biomedical framework, TCM is a complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) that originated from China. Contrasted with biomedicine as the “conventional” medicine,10 the CAMs are positioned on the periphery and are marginal to the standards and values of Western biomedicine. Furthermore, the “traditional” and “indigenous” labels also contrast against the assumed “modernism” of biomedicine. Not only does TCM become indigenized in the American context, the profession has also reconfigured itself to also serve functions that venture into the realms of psychological, religious,11 and spiritual.12 Categorized under the umbrella of CAM, practitioners of TCM in America, especially but not exclusively those who are not Chinese ethnics, often incorporate the central beliefs and values of the general CAM into their practices and ideology...

MYSTICAL AND SPIRITUAL DISCOURSE IN THE CONTEMPORARY ASHKENAZI HAREDI WORLDS

The intensification of mystical and spiritual discourse amongst the Haredim has been largely overlooked by the emerging field of research on contemporary Kabbalah. Drawing on discourse analysis as well as fieldwork, the main schools of contemporary haredi mysticism are described, focusing on three Ashkenazi worlds in Israel: Hasidism, “Lithuanians”, and trans‐haredi figures. New networks of younger leaders are identified as directing their followers away from standardized forms of generic haredi identity and towards inner‐directed spirituality, which enables forms of mystical specialization. This plurality, resulting from dramatic demographic expansion, justifies the claim that scholars should move towards speaking of haredi “worlds”. The new leaders, openly addressing the unique needs of this generation, subtly critique accepted mores, as well as phenomena that most Haredim regard as signs of success. Dynamics of continuity and change within haredi spirituality are also discussed, with special emphasis on the effect of the recent influx of newly observant and the dilemma posed by their spiritual background. Contemporary haredi spirituality is thus examined in relation to earlier forms of Jewish mysticism. By way of conclusion, recent developments are positioned in the context of inter‐generational processes in the haredi history of the last decades.

Spiritual intelligence from the Bhagavad-Gita for conflict resolution

Thousands of years before the introduction and the development of spiritual intelligence, Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-Gita had discussed about the spiritual intelligence that the present day researchers are talking about. Spiritual intelligence provides us with complete personality and truthfulness. It is the intelligence of our spirit. By the help of this intelligence, we contemplate over the basic questions of our life and reshape our answers. To resolve the conflict arising in the mind of Arjuna, Lord Krishna discussed about the four dimensions of conflict and awakened his soul through spiritual discourse. Spiritual intelligence is the fine-tuning of intellectual faculty and this is nonphysical and inspirational in nature. The Bhagavad-Gita teaches this wisdom. This paper has a review of literatures on spiritual intelligence and uses hermeneutics a qualitative research methodology, which is the interpretation of an ancient or a classical literature.

Particularizing spirituality in points of tension: enriching the discourse

The tremendous growth in nursing literature about spirituality has garnered proportionately little critique. Part of the reason may be that the broad generalizing claims typical of this literature have not been sufficiently explicated so that their particular implications for a practice discipline could be evaluated. Further, conceptualizations that attempt to encompass all possible views are difficult to challenge outside of a particular location. However, once one assumes a particular location in relation to spirituality, then the question becomes how one resolves the tension between what are essentially theological or philosophical commitments and professional commitments. In this study, we discuss the tension between these perspectives using the idea of a responsible nursing response to spiritual pluralism. We then problematize three claims about spirituality in nursing discourse based upon our location as scholars influenced by Christian theological understandings: (i) the claim that all individuals are spiritual; (ii) the claim that human spirituality can be assessed and evaluated; and (iii) the claim that spirituality is a proper domain of nursing's concern and intervention. We conclude by suggesting that the widely shared values of social justice, compassion and human dignity may well serve as a grounding for the critique of spiritual discourses in nursing across particularized positions.

‘Have the elder races halted?’: British Socialist Readings of ‘Pioneers! O Pioneers!’

This short essay analyses British socialist readings of Walt Whitman’s ‘Pioneers! O Pioneers!’ and explores some of the ways in which the poem was appropriated for the socialist movement. Despite its overt American nationalism, ‘Pioneers’ was one of the key Whitman poems for British socialists: extracts were frequently reprinted in socialist newspapers and periodicals, it was referred to in articles and obituaries, and it was invoked in speeches. It was assimilated into a familiar <em>fin de siècle </em>socialist spiritual discourse and used directly as political propaganda. This paper discusses the means by which the ‘Americanness’ of ‘Pioneers’ was either overlooked or actively edited out and its militaristic components were emphasised. By focusing on the martial imagery and rhetoric of ‘Pioneers’, nineteenth-century British socialists were able to translate Whitman’s call to America into a rallying cry for the extension of a global socialist democracy.

Invoking spirits in the material world: Spiritualism, surrealism, and spirituality at work

This article considers the recent upsurge of interest in workplace spirituality through an analysis of three cultural movements – late 19th-century spiritualism, early 20th-century surrealism, and late 20th-/early 21st-century ‘spirituality at work’.These movements share a common interest in harnessing the power of the human spirit in the transformation and ‘betterment’ of social life. It is argued that these movements have successively adopted and de-radicalized invocations of the spirit world such that the proto-feminism and utopianism of spiritualism and the revolutionary pretensions of surrealism have been usurped by a strongly managerialist discourse of workplace spirituality. The paper ends with a consideration of the implications of these developments for the critical study of spirituality, management and organization.