Marion Bowman

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Marion Bowman (born 1955) is a British academic working on the borders of religious studies and folklore and ethnology. She is Professor Emerita in Religious Studies, The Open University [1] where she was previously Professor of Vernacular Religion. [2]

Contents

Bowman is a long-standing researcher into New Age and alternative spiritualities. [3] Her research focus is predominantly contemporary spirituality in the UK and Europe, particularly "the practices and beliefs of individuals both within and on the margins of institutional religion". [4]

Education

Bowman began her university education at Glasgow University but moved to Lancaster University to study under Prof Ninian Smart. [3]

Bowman completed her MA in Folklore at Memorial University, Newfoundland: her dissertation was on devotion to St Gerard Majella in Newfoundland. [5] She completed her PhD at the University of Glamorgan in 1998 on 'Vernacular Religion and Contemporary Spirituality: Studies in Religious Experience and Expression'. [6]

Career

From 1990 to 2000 Bowman was based at Bath Spa University in the department of Study of Religions. [1]

In 2000 Bowman joined the Religious Studies department at The Open University. She was Head of Department between 2010 and 2013. [1]

Bowman has carried out a long term study of Glastonbury, seeing it as a sight of "significant pilgrimage destination and microcosm of contemporary spirituality and vernacular religiosity". [7]

Bowman is a member of the Steering Committee of the Baron Thyssen Centre for the Study of Ancient Material Religion, based in the Classical Studies Department at the Open University. [8] She was also a Co-Investigator on the Arts Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded project Pilgrimage and England’s Cathedrals, Past and Present, which ran from 2014-2018. [9]

The research of Bowman and Open University colleagues into alternative religions has been seen to have a number of impacts: both at an academic level in influencing research agendas but also in influencing a more positive public awareness of practitioners of alternative religions. [10]

Recognition

Bowman has been a visiting lecturer or professor at a number of European universities, including the University of Oslo, Norway; [11] University of Bayreuth, Germany; University of Pecs, Hungary and University of Tartu, Estonia. [12]

She is a former president of the British Association for the Study of Religions and a former Vice-President of both the European Association for the Study of Religions [13] and Theology and Religious Studies UK. [1]

Between 2002 and 2005, Bowman served as president of the Folklore Society: her Presidential Lectures derived from her research into Glastonbury and Newfoundland. [14] [15] She is an International Fellow of the American Folklore Society. [16]

Selected publications

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Professor Marion Bowman, The Open University". www.open.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-10-26.
  2. ↑ "Scotlands Sacred Islands With Ben Fogle "aims to focus on the power of the islands themselves to nurture and nourish religion and spirituality"". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  3. 1 2 "It's a way with the fairies". The Independent. 2013-09-23. Retrieved 2021-05-01.
  4. ↑ "Marion Bowman". The Conversation. 19 June 2014. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  5. ↑ Bowman, Marion (27 July 2016). "The contented collector: materiality, relationality and the power of things". Material Religion. 12 (3): 384–386. doi:10.1080/17432200.2016.1192159. S2CID   193315973.[ non-primary source needed ]
  6. ↑ Bowman, Marion Irene (1998). Vernacular Religion and Contemporary Spirituality: Studies in Religious Experience and Expression (Thesis).
  7. ↑ "Bowman". The Baron Thyssen Centre for the Study of Ancient Material Religion. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  8. ↑ "Steering Committee". The Baron Thyssen Centre for the Study of Ancient Material Religion. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  9. ↑ "Cathedrals & Pilgrimage". Cathedrals & Pilgrimage. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  10. ↑ "REF Case study search". impact.ref.ac.uk. Retrieved 2021-05-01.
  11. ↑ jeg?, Besøksadresse P. A. Munchs husNiels Henrik Abels vei 36 0371 OSLO Postadresse Postboks 1010 Blindern 0315 OSLO Kontakt oss Hvem kontakter. "Marion Bowman er tilsatt som professor II i kulturhistorie - Institutt for kulturstudier og orientalske språk". www.hf.uio.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2021-05-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ↑ "2019 ISSRNC Conference - Keynote Speaker Marion Bowman". The International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture (ISSRNC). 2018-11-30. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  13. ↑ "Contesting Authority; Vernacular Knowledge and Alternative Beliefs; Marion Bowman and Ülo Valk". Equinox Publishing. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  14. ↑ Bowman, Marion (March 2003). "Vernacular religion and nature: The 'Bible of the Folk' tradition in Newfoundland". Folklore. 114 (3): 285–295. doi:10.1080/0015587032000145333. S2CID   144203410.[ non-primary source needed ]
  15. ↑ Bowman, Marion (December 2004). "Presidential address given to the Folklore society, March 2004: Procession and possession in glastonbury: continuity, change and the manipulation of tradition". Folklore. 115 (3): 273–285. doi: 10.1080/0015587042000284266 .[ non-primary source needed ]
  16. ↑ "AFS Fellows". American Folklore Society. Retrieved 2024-02-07.
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