Cuidar desde lejos. El uso de prácticas espirituales para acompañar familiares enfermos de covid-19

Teresa Ordorika Sacristán

doi:10.9789/2525-3050.2026.v11n21.e14048

Authors

Teresa Ordorika Sacristán Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) – Ciudad de México/DF, México

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.9789/2525-3050.2026.v11n21.e14048

Keywords:

Spiritual practices, Pandemic, Covid-19, Re-enchantment of the world, Modernity

Abstract

This article analyzes how, during the covid-19 pandemic, some people reconstructed forms of presence and care when hospital protocols prevented them from physically accompanying their sick or dying relatives. Based on three testimonies—Karina, Eva, and Posima—the use of meditations, candles, copper rods, and Mayan ceremonies as spiritual practices, activated to restore the emotional bond at a distance, is examined. The analysis, based on grounded theory, shows that these actions do not constitute a rejection of modernity but rather contemporary forms of re-enchantment that combine multiple materialities, corporealities, and ontologies. Spiritual practices appear as ethical resources for care and repair of the bond, capable of offering presence and agency in a context marked by hospital isolation and uncertainty. It is concluded that spirituality functioned as a modern, legitimate, and situated way of accompanying people in situations of extreme vulnerability.

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Author Biography

Teresa Ordorika Sacristán, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) – Ciudad de México/DF, México

Doctora en sociología por Goldsmiths College, Universidad de Londres. Investigadora adscrita al Programa de Investigación Feminista del Centro de Estudios Interdisciplinarios en Ciencias y Humanidades, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (CEIICH, UNAM). CV: https://www.escavador.com/sobre/408582/teresa-ordorika-sacristan

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