Sacred materialities: transforming academic work through creative engagement with objects

Title
Sacred materialities: transforming academic work through creative engagement with objects
Author(s)
Pillay, Daisy
Charteris, Jennifer
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1554-6730
Email: jcharte5@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:jcharte5
Nye, Adele
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1603-2643
Email: anye@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:anye
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Routledge
Place of publication
United Kingdom
DOI
10.1080/14759551.2026.2703591
UNE publication id
une:1959.11/74884
Abstract

This article proposes that engaging with posthuman spirituality can reveal new insights into how materiality generates meaning in academic workplaces. Posthuman theory can support an understanding of the materiality of meaningful academic work. This reframes spiritual engagement beyond anthropocentric doctrines, emphasising embodied and material entanglements with objects and environments. ‘Spiritual’ here refers to embodied, affective, and material entanglements within everyday academic spaces such as cherished books, meeting areas, digital collaboration forums, and other sites or artefacts treated with reverence and care. We creatively illustrate how attending to vital matter reconfigures academic workplaces as vibrant co-participants in spiritual meaning-making, enriching academics’ sense of purpose and belonging. Through post-qualitative inquiry, we explore how vital matter reconfigures academic workplaces by attending to the materiality of objects and spaces. These insights challenge neoliberal narratives of academic life, highlighting transformative possibilities of an inclusive, embodied spirituality that is inseparable from materiality.

Link
Citation
Culture and Organization, p. 1-18
ISSN
1477-2760
1475-9551
Start page
1
End page
18

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