(C) My name is Mar and I obtained my Bachelor’s degree in Psychology at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM). I did my traineeship in Contemporary Childhood, where I conducted a project with online rol-players using Actor-Network Theory as the analytical framework. After graduation I went to Belgium where I completed a Master’s degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology at KU Leuven. My most recent work has been developed in the framework of my MA Thesis in Anthropology. As part of my research, I explored how the philosophy of the Indian guru, Paramahansa Yogananda, is embedded in the daily life of his devotees. At the same time, I collaborated on a different project centered on ‘care’, the product of which was presented at the 2020 EASST/4s conference. This work discussed the notion of autonomy through three different care assemblages. My interests range from existential concerns and care studies, to digital ethnography and STS.
I am currently working as research assistant at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of KU Leuven, in the research team Meaning Research in Late Life (https://www.jessiedezutter.be/). The goal of this unit is to better understand the weight of existential concerns in the life’s experience of the elderly. Here, I am focusing my attention on exploring the multifaceted phenomenon of Existential Loneliness.