6 thoughts on “Mapping Pagan Religious Identity

  1. AP: I don’t see you comment over on her blog. That is where it belongs. Nevertheless, she is using a social-scientific model and trying to modify it. If you have a critique of the model, let her know.

  2. Robert Mathiesen

    It seems to me, Apuleius, that her model is *not* based on one’s “racial identity,” but has been generalized from a specific model of how a person settles in on self-identification as a member of a “racially” (or ethnically or culturally) defined group. It is natural to generalize such a model to include the process of self-identification as a member of any group that allows for self-identification — as do many Pagan groups. Whether it turns out to be a useful model will depends on how it fits observations made of that process. If I have read her rightly, she offers it for consideration as a possible model, not as a confirmed theory.

  3. Well put, Robert. Just because a theoretical model deals with race does not mean that it is “racialist,” necessarily. She was looking for models of handling status as some type of social minority, and most of those seem to involve race or sexuality-and-gender.

  4. Pitch313

    My first thought–Is Pagan Studies killing Paganism?

    Yes, contemporary Paganism is a legitimate object of academic-style study and investigation. But I gotta say that models of Pagan religious identity development used to evaluate the life affairs and spiritual awareness of practicing Pagans strikes me as going knowingly into a house of smoke and mirrors.

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