Paper short abstract:

In this paper I reflect on my experiences as a 'scholar-practitioner' of contemporary Paganism in Scotland. I argue that critical reflection on emic perspectives can help to explain the relevance of studying contemporary Paganism, placing it within a wider 'cultural turn' within western culture.

Paper long abstract:

This paper reflects on my ongoing fieldwork among contemporary Pagans in Scotland, a community I am also a member of in my personal life. Pagan Studies is a subfield of Religious Studies which has been particularly strongly criticized for engaging in normative constructions of its subject, and over privileging emic perspectives – of being ‘caretakers’ rather than ‘critics’ (Davidsen 2012). While the field has changed since Davidsen’s sharp critique, there still remains a large presence of ‘scholar-practitioners’. At the same time it is rare to encounter a religious community which has such a strong presence of former or current anthropologists, Religious Studies scholars and other academics in its membership.

Pagans describe their religion to me as having an emphasis on experience (literally) ‘in the field’ and a set of questions and practices rather than creedal beliefs, and if true, it is perhaps not surprising that contemporary Paganism and academic anthropology sometimes attract the same people. This shared method of thinking and the strong interest which many pagans take in academic work, should make for a constructive relationship between the two. While it may complicate the ‘narrower’ study of a New Religious Movement (NRM) as advocated by White (2016), I argue it should not prevent critically insightful RS scholarship which can speak not just about developments within pagan NRMs, but how this leads and is reflected in a wider ‘cultural turn’ (Ezzy 2016) within Western culture as a whole.