The biopower of faith leaders who are also alternative medicine practitioners in alternative spiritual communities

Abstract: One of the most valuable parts of this conference on the "Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities" is the opportunity to nurture peerhoods of critique among alternative spiritual community members and leaders. Scholars play a pivotal role through critique by helping spiritual communities examine, avoid, and heal from harmful practices.

It is from this sense of community and urgency that I turn to Foucault's expertise on power, particularly his "Society Must Be Defended" lecture. I posit that like any communities with power, alternative faith communities can become capitalist racist biopolitical corporations.

Presenter bio: Orus Mateo Castaño-Suárez endeavours to engage with as diverse a population of thinkers as possible as a graduate student, spiritual practitioner, artist-curator, software designer, and writer. They curate exhibitions for their artist incubator Collective65 in partnership with a number of Toronto consulates. Their most recent independent show as artist-curator, *Torus* (2022), was presented in the Great Hall gallery in Canada's largest art and design university, OCADU. As a software designer, Orus is expanding the limits of interdisciplinary data modeling.

Presenter affiliation: Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCADU)