{"id":9843,"date":"2018-10-04T15:08:05","date_gmt":"2018-10-04T21:08:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=9843"},"modified":"2018-10-04T15:08:05","modified_gmt":"2018-10-04T21:08:05","slug":"coming-soon-being-viking-heathenism-in-contemporary-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=9843","title":{"rendered":"Coming Soon \u2014 Being Viking: Heathenism in Contemporary America"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

What do I like about Being Viking <\/em><\/a>beyond Mark Lee’s<\/a> arresting cover design? It is that author Jefferson Calico<\/a> can move beyond rehashing the folkish-universalist issue and look at some things not normally talked about, such as social class.<\/p>\n

Americans will talk you to death about race and ethnicity, but then turn around and pretend that the high-level university bureaucrat with a summer home on Martha’s Vineyard and the guy making a lot of overtime pay in a Texas oilfield are both earning “middle-class salaries.” While the English divide social-class issues with a microtome<\/a>, we pretend that we all aspire to the same thing.<\/p>\n

That is just one way that Being Viking <\/em>moves beyond the radical politics-obsessed approach taken by authors such as Jennifer Snook in American Heathens <\/em><\/a>or Mattias Gardell\u00a0 Gods of the Blood<\/em><\/a>. (If you look at Gardell’s publishing history, he jumps from one sensational topic to another.) Calico is strong on history, ritual, polytheism, and the social side of American Heathenry.<\/p>\n

So I am delighted this book is now being published in Equinox’s Contemporary and Historical Paganism series<\/a>, for which we are always seeking new titles.<\/p>\n

You can pre-order the book now or recommend it to your university library by clicking the buttons on its Equinox web page<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What do I like about Being Viking beyond Mark Lee’s arresting cover design? It is that author Jefferson Calico can move beyond rehashing the folkish-universalist issue and look at some things not normally talked about, such as social class. Americans will talk you to death about race and ethnicity, but then turn around and pretend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[137,10,76,130,4],"class_list":["post-9843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-academia","tag-american-religion","tag-asatru","tag-heathenry","tag-scholarship"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-2yL","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10390,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=10390","url_meta":{"origin":9843,"position":0},"title":"Norse “Chess” Pieces Reveal an Ancient Whale Hunt","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"April 22, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The ancient Norse loved the game of hnefatafl, in which a king's faithful followers try to protect him against raiding forces, which pretty well describes so much of early medieval politics. An article in Smithsonian, however, suggests that these game pieces \"were the product of early industrial whaling. If so,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"history\"","block_context":{"text":"history","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=history"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thumbs-prod.si-cdn.com\/9o4yksMkWj0rJFQNOIqloAtcOQc%3D\/800x600\/filters%3Ano_upscale%28%29\/https%3A\/\/public-media.si-cdn.com\/filer\/c9\/6e\/c96ed25b-63b6-43f2-afc8-3c52e5809a52\/header-viking-game-pieces.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thumbs-prod.si-cdn.com\/9o4yksMkWj0rJFQNOIqloAtcOQc%3D\/800x600\/filters%3Ano_upscale%28%29\/https%3A\/\/public-media.si-cdn.com\/filer\/c9\/6e\/c96ed25b-63b6-43f2-afc8-3c52e5809a52\/header-viking-game-pieces.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thumbs-prod.si-cdn.com\/9o4yksMkWj0rJFQNOIqloAtcOQc%3D\/800x600\/filters%3Ano_upscale%28%29\/https%3A\/\/public-media.si-cdn.com\/filer\/c9\/6e\/c96ed25b-63b6-43f2-afc8-3c52e5809a52\/header-viking-game-pieces.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thumbs-prod.si-cdn.com\/9o4yksMkWj0rJFQNOIqloAtcOQc%3D\/800x600\/filters%3Ano_upscale%28%29\/https%3A\/\/public-media.si-cdn.com\/filer\/c9\/6e\/c96ed25b-63b6-43f2-afc8-3c52e5809a52\/header-viking-game-pieces.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5086,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=5086","url_meta":{"origin":9843,"position":1},"title":"Death and the Viking Mind","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"January 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"A short piece from Heritage Daily summarizes research by Neil Price of Aberdeen University into Viking-period burials. Aside from these literary work [sagas], Professor Price suggests that the grave assemblages of the Viking Age may be used to tell stories and provide an insight into the Viking conscious. There is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"archaeology\"","block_context":{"text":"archaeology","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=archaeology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.heritagedaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/viking111.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.heritagedaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/viking111.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.heritagedaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/viking111.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9153,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=9153","url_meta":{"origin":9843,"position":2},"title":"Does Anyone “Own” the Vikings? The NY Times Wants to Know","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"March 18, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Some years ago \u2014 the late 1990s? \u2014 I had a Swedish freshman student in one of my classes. Looking over his shoulder as he was typing at his computer station, I noticed that he had a silver Mj\u00f6llnir (Thor's hammer) pendant on a thin chain around his neck. Naturally,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Asatru\"","block_context":{"text":"Asatru","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=asatru"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/hammer-maiden.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8634,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=8634","url_meta":{"origin":9843,"position":3},"title":"Viking Hoodoo \u2014 Who Knew?","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"June 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Who knew the old Norse were into runic candle magic? Not me. All right, you should not judge a museum exhibit by what is in the gift shop. It's just that the designers of the Vikings: Beyond the Legend traveling exhibit, chiefly from the Swedish History Museum, if I understand\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"history\"","block_context":{"text":"history","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=history"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/vikinghoodoo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/vikinghoodoo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/vikinghoodoo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/vikinghoodoo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13604,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=13604","url_meta":{"origin":9843,"position":4},"title":"Four Notable Books in Pagan Studies","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"April 12, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"From Reading Religion, the book review website of the American Academy of Religion, a post by Ethan Doyle White, who writes, From Wiccan covens assembling in English drawing rooms to Rodnover midsummer gatherings in rural Russia, the modern Pagan religions represent a fascinating and diverse component of our contemporary religious\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Heathenry\"","block_context":{"text":"Heathenry","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=heathenry"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/being-viking.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6861,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=6861","url_meta":{"origin":9843,"position":5},"title":"The Viking “Blood Eagle” Never Happened, Says Historian","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"November 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"A Swedish archaeologist reviews a new book, Anders Winroth's\u00a0The Age of the Vikings, and makes this observation: Myself, I was intrigued to learn that the infamous, messy and impractical \u201cblood eagle\u201d murder method may just be the fruit of High Medieval writers misunderstanding one of the countless references in Viking\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"archaeology\"","block_context":{"text":"archaeology","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=archaeology"},"img":{"alt_text":"ageofthevikings","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/ageofthevikings.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9843"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9847,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9843\/revisions\/9847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}