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- Convenors:
-
Joanna Malita-Król
(Jagiellonian University)
Matouš Vencálek (Masaryk University)
Send message to Convenors
- Chairs:
-
Matouš Vencálek
(Masaryk University)
Joanna Malita-Król (Jagiellonian University)
- Format:
- Panel
- Location:
- Zeta room
- Sessions:
- Monday 4 September, -Tuesday 5 September, -, -
Time zone: Europe/Vilnius
Short Abstract:
This panel invites contributions on the topic of contemporary Paganism and technology and to reflect, among others, on online rituals and groups, forming and presenting Pagan identities on social media and the usage of technology (apps etc.) in Pagan context.
Long Abstract:
Since the 1990s, the Internet has played a significant role in the Pagan community worldwide. It brought rapid growth of Pagan movements and became a primary channel of spreading information and organizing events for many Pagan organisations (Strmiska 2005, Adler 2006). As Douglas Cowan observed almost twenty years ago, Paganism on the Internet demonstrates "how new information spaces (…) provide alternative, hitherto unavailable venues for the performance and instantiation of often marginalized religious identities" (Cowan 2004: x). This was accurate not only for forums back in the 1990s, but also for more recent kinds of online activity, namely social media, especially TikTok with WitchTok phenomenon (Miller 2022).
Furthermore, the global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic transformed religious practices, shifting to virtual and home-based worship (Taragin-Zeller and Kessler 2021). As Baker et al. (2021) note, the pandemic resulted in an increased "demand" for religious rituals and support with a simultaneous decrease of the "available supply" of religion in its usual form. New forms of such supply were realized in various forms in contemporary Paganism, including meeting for rituals and various gatherings online and streaming important events (e.g., Rountree 2021).
In continuity with these studies, this panel invites contributions on the broader topic of contemporary Paganism and technology, and to reflect, among others, on the following questions:
Online rituals and online covens/other groups - do they actually happen, when, why?
Are the online rituals perceived as authentic - why or why not?
What is left after the COVID-19 induced shift to virtual worship?
How are Pagan identities formed and presented on social media?
How are modern technologies (e.g., apps for designing runic formulas etc.) used and reflected by contemporary Pagans?
Papers exploring case studies, theoretical and methodological issues in the area of contemporary Paganism and technology are also welcome.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Monday 4 September, 2023, -Paper short abstract:
This paper introduces my ongoing research amongst Pagans in Edinburgh. I seek to explore differences and potential tensions between contemporary Pagans’ online and offline identities, and how joining in person groups can change religious identity and practice
Paper long abstract:
Data from the 2021 Census in England and Wales shows ‘Pagan’ is now comfortably the largest response outside of ‘world religion’ options in response to the religious affiliation question (74,000) and has increased by 30% since the 2011 census (Office for National Statistics, 2021). There is therefore a need to study how and why people are coming to identify as ‘Pagan’ in contemporary Britain. There has been a good deal of literature written on ‘conversion’ (a term rarely used by contemporary Pagans themselves) to Paganism, such as Luhrmann’s (1989) fieldwork amongst British ceremonial magicians, Harvey’s (1999) work on the theme of ‘coming home’ among Pagans, and Harrington’s (2005) study of male ‘converts’ to Wicca.
However, one way the field has changed since these works were written is the growing importance of digital media and online activity to the religious lives of contemporary Pagans, particularly the large numbers who are ‘solitary practitioners’ (Berger 2019). At the same time, studies of online activity of contemporary Paganism have often had a focus on the online as the ‘location’ of research This is in contrast with the broader push for the study of digital religion to be focused on the ‘blending’ of online and offline activity (Campbell 2022).
My research then aims to bridge this gap, through a study of how contemporary Pagans in the Edinburgh locality came to identify as such, with a focus on what differences exist between their online and offline identities. Of particular interest is how a religious identity that may have been constructed primarily online changes once contact is made with an in-person group. This will be done through a narrative inquiry, based on ~ 20 semi-structured interviews, in discussion with an autoethnographic analysis.
Paper short abstract:
The paper focuses on being a witch as a lifestyle, presented in social media. Using content analysis and Stebbins' (1997) ethnographic approach to lifestyle, I will study the activities and shaping social identity through online presence of two Polish content creators: @Paranormalia and @idzys.
Paper long abstract:
The Internet has been providing a space for "imagined community" (Anderson 2006) for contemporary witchcraft practitioners since the 1990s. Finding like-minded people, sharing knowledge and experiences, and, simply, connecting virtually was done first via interactive forums and discussion lists, then via social media which provided a sense of community (Frampton and Grandison 2022). Apart from the role of online communities, other aspects of witchcraft/Paganism and technology have been explored by many researchers, for example: ritual practice amongst Instagram users (Orrell 2019); spreading witchcraft and Pagan spirituality via social media (Jabłońska 2022); or identity construction through social media protests (Miller 2022).
In the proposed paper I aim to add another layer to this research and focus on being a witch as a lifestyle, presented in social media, primarly on Youtube. I refer to 'lifestyle' as a "set of shared patterns of tangible behavior that is organized around a set of coherent interests or social conditions or both (…)" that "becomes the basis for a separate common social identitity for its participants" (Stebbins 1997: 350). These patterns of tangible behaviour can be consciously presented through content created online.
Data for the proposed analysis will be gathered from the content analysis of Youtube channels created by two Poles: firstly, Natalia Turska (@Paranormalia), who identifies as a Pagan and a Witch and secondly, Idżys (@idzys), self-identified as "Slow Living Dreamer", a Druid, a witch and a tarot reader. I will analyse the activities they present - both in a ritual and everyday context - and how they construct social identities through their online presence. I will also address the issue of professionalisation and monetisation of their channels. Other social media channels run by Natalia and Idżys - especially Instagram - will be used as a broad context.
Paper short abstract:
This paper examines, through qualitative interviews with Wiccan practitioners, psychological aspects of ritual, in the context of the Covid pandemic and migration to online platforms by practitioners normally resistant to online practice as "inauthentic" and "not real".
Paper long abstract:
This paper examines psychological aspects of ritual in contemporary Wicca and how practitioners adapted their practice during the 2020-2022 Covid pandemic, when most European countries instigated restrictions on the numbers of people who could meet indoors and outside. One solution was to create online ritual, a practice that has been common among young witches, but has not been the practice of initiatory covens, whose practice is strongly ritual-based and who typically meet for such rituals as small groups of stable membership, in-person, in members' homes or outside in nature. Rituals are created in Wicca for a variety of purposes, including venerating deities, attuning with the seasonal cycle, inducting participants into initiatory mysteries, and for magical purposes such as healing. Meeting on platforms such as Zoom raised questions for practitioners about the purpose of ritual, what constituted "real" ritual, and whether "real ritual" and, if so, what types of "real ritual", could be successfully held online. An underlying issue was the difference between ritual participation and "performance". Could a ritual that was filmed be carried out in the same state of consciousness and could the synchrony and shared consciousness shifts of the covens' normal ritual practices be achieved without close proximity and shared physical space. The paper explores through analysis of qualitative interviews carried out with Wiccan practitioners who moved to online ritual, exploring the extent to which they were able to successfully transfer their practice to remote participation, whether such rituals were able to fulfil the primary psychological functions of rituals in regulating emotions, performance goal states, and social connection, and the implications of the participants' for the psychology of ritual.
Paper short abstract:
In line with Cowan’s observations on the affinity neopagans hold for cyberspace, this paper focuses on the importance of the digital world in the construction of contemporary Mexican neopaganism.
Paper long abstract:
In line with Cowan’s (2004) observations on the affinity neopagans hold for cyberspace, this paper focuses on the role the digital world plays in the construction of contemporary Mexican neopaganism. The main focus is the internet in general and its function as an anonymous access point into the neopagan field from a mainly Catholic environment where witchcraft and heathenism are still often negatively connotated. Social media platforms like Facebook and “Witch-Toc” as online spaces for transnational exchange of information and experiences as well as digital tools like apps for magic and everyday neopagan practices will also be addressed.
The paper is guided by the question: How do neopagans in the Mexican capital use digital assets for the construction of their religiosities, their interactions with other neopagans around the globe and their religious practice? Based on research data comprising interview material and statistical as well as content-related observations concerning relevant Facebook groups, I will show how the internet had a crucial catalytic effect on the communitarisation and thus the emergence of a neopagan field in Mexico around the year 2000 and how the digital world still influences contemporary neopaganism in the Mexican capital.
Special attention will be paid to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic which has led to significant transformations in communication, practice and interaction among neopagans, and has fuelled conceptual changes in the expression of their worldviews and identities. Apart from that, I’ll touch upon emic negotiations that aim to critically reflect on the relation of cyberspace and predominant worldviews in the neopagan field that assume pantheistic or animistic viewpoints and thus underline analogue, experience-based aspects of interaction with the living environment, often framed as overtly opposed to the digital world.
Paper short abstract:
In the context of Romuva's challenges in obtaining state recognition, this paper examines the public discourse, focusing on religion, identity formation through contradiction, and the role of in- and out-groups. The study is part of a PhD project at the University of Bremen.
Paper long abstract:
The religious association Romuva has faced persistent challenges in obtaining state recognition despite adhering to the procedures of doing so outlined in Lithuanian law. Over the course of a 25-year waiting period, numerous parliamentary votes, an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, and a robust public discourse, the matter of recognition has been widely discussed and debated by a variety of stakeholders, including Romuvians themselves, Lithuanian parliament members, Catholic bishops, religious studies academics, and others.
This paper aims to examine the ongoing discourse by exploring the central concept of religion and how identities are delineated in relation to it through the means of contradiction. What kind of arguments are made in public discourse? How do they create in- and out-groups and what does that mean for the concepts employed in the statements? What role does contradiction play in all of this and what does a sharp focus on it reveal about the process? This is part of a PhD project on the discourse around the topic of Romuva’s state recognition at the Research Training Group Contradiction Studies – Constellations, Heuristics, Concepts at the University of Bremen.
Paper short abstract:
Using ethnographic research and interviews, this paper focuses on the role of Internet and social media on the development, as well as current practice of Modern Paganism among two generations (Gen Y and Gen Z) of Pagans in the Czech Republic.
Paper long abstract:
In the Czech(oslovak) Republic, Modern Paganism has been developing mostly after the fall of the totalitarian communist regime in 1989. However, the biggest expansion came with the spread of Internet and chatting platforms and forums in the late 90’s and 00’s, where this first post-revolution generation of Modern Pagans started to meet, share and shape their views, theologies and groups.
Over the years, the Czech Pagan scene grew and got younger, and it now seems that the “new” Gen Z (or Zoomer) Pagans outnumber the “original” Gen-Y (or Millennial) ones. Various new social media and platforms emerged in the past years that are used dominantly by the members of Gen Z, and we can see that Paganism and Witchcraft flourish there (e.g. the WitchTok phenomenon).
This paper focuses on (1) the role of Internet and social media on the development of Modern Paganism in the Czech Republic, as well as on (2) their role in the current practice of Modern Paganism among the two generations, as they generally use and perceive the Internet and social media in a different manner, focus on different platforms, and act differently online. Through research and interviews among two generations of Modern Pagans in the Czech Republic, this paper strives to find the differences and commonalities in how they perceive and use the Internet and social media in the context of their practice of Modern Paganism.
Paper short abstract:
Within the last 30 years, more than 75 holy places of European ethnic, autochthonous and native religions have been built, while some have been already vandalized; and hence, beside the unveiled places, due to fear of persecution, many are still kept in secret. “The Pagan Map” addresses the issue.
Paper long abstract:
A study project called “The Pagan Map” commenced in 2020 with a purpose to get insight into the dynamics, distribution, architecture and issues of the new-built (especially since 1990) sacred sites of European ethnic religions. The overt interim result of this study is an updatable map and a list, intermittently published on the Facebook page with the same name, indicating how many and where such places are located across the World. However, soon it emerged that the established holy places get desecrated, vandalized or annihilated, and that their keepers face discrimination or persecution. Consequently, several groups choose to keep their places in secret. The initial focus of the study was extended in 2023 by adding a survey to assess and raise awareness of the overall environment of well-being of so-called Pagans and the status quo of rights communities enjoy in their respective countries.
Paper short abstract:
The presentation looks at Estonian online rituals using word magic and incantations. The authors use also digital corpus of Estonian traditional incantations to wide possibilities for analysing contemporary incantations.
Paper long abstract:
The presentation compares Estonian online rituals using word magic and incantations with older fixations. The choice of Estonian-speaking environments is limited to the use of incantations, especially when a communication zone joins the ritual. Theoretical approaches to online religion in the 1990s provided a good basis for further analysis, and it is also clear that shamanism, like many other religious minority movements, took off in the early days of the Internet and introduced new technical possibilities, also social media outlets.
We used also the digital corpus and tool of Estonian religious texts (now contains an estimated 300,000 texts), which are divided into imaginary sub-corpora based on different areas, types of texts, characters, rituals, etc. Digital corpus offer wide possibilities for analysing texts and their representations – from complex character models to mythemes and other details. It is possible to construct models of the variability of the appearance, time, place and other conditions of mythical beings, to look at the diversity of axiology, and to predict the foundations of vernacular categorization.
Often, such rituals contain a wider range of religious information, which is why the method of close reading has been used for analysis of contemporary versions. There is an interesting equating and likening point of view with specific rituals, all activity is an extension of our social world.