2017 was a busy year for
me as my PhD research continued apace, and unfortunately several other
projects, such as this blog, fell by the wayside somewhat. However, I was able
to get a few academic publications out reflect the increasing diversification
of my research interests and which may interest some of those reading this blog.
The Journal of
Religion in Europe published my article on “Northern
Gods for Northern Folk: Racial Identity and Right-Wing Ideology among Britain’s
Folkish Heathens,” itself based on a presentation given at the “Generation
Hex: The Politics of Contemporary Paganism” conference held at Cambridge
University in September 2015. This article was the first sustained exploration
of Folkish Heathenry in Britain to be published in an academic form and
hopefully offers a useful complement both to Mattias Gardell’s excellent work
on Folkish Heathenry in the United States and to Robert
Wallis and Jenny Blain’s research into Universalist Heathenry in Britain. I
also hope that it serves as a timely reminder that although in the popular
imagination modern Paganism is often stereotyped as a left-wing, ‘hippy-esque’
phenomenon, there are also modern Pagan groups of a decidedly right-wing and
ethno-nationalist bent. The only way for scholars to really get to grips with
modern Paganism as a contemporary milieu is to recognise this diversity of
perspectives. This was my first publication to deal explicitly with the
intersections of ‘religion’ and ‘politics’, a theme that I intend to pursue in
further depth over coming years.
The second publication of
note that I produced last year was a review essay put together for Correspondences:
An Online Journal for the Academic Study of Western Esotericism, the
excellent open-access journal put together by Aren
Roukema, Jimmy Elwing, and (as book review editor) Egil
Asprem. The review is titled “Sympathy
for the Devil: A Review of Recent Publications in the Study of Satanism”
and provides an overview of three good publications on the subject that have
appeared in recent years. Moreover, after reviewing these tomes it also offers
my own thoughts on the development of the field and some of the terminological
and taxonomic issues it has thrown up.
In addition, I’ve also
had the privilege of reading and reviewing a range of books for such journals
as the Religious Studies Review, Nova Religio: The Journal of
Alternative and Emergent Religions, and Time and Mind: The Journal of
Archaeology, Consciousness and Culture. I’ve also brought out a couple of
reviews for the Reading Religion website (of Kaarina
Aitamurto’s Paganism, Traditionalism, Nationalism and Christopher Bader
et al’s Paranormal America). Anyone unfamiliar with this site, which
is run by the American Academy of Religion (AAR), should definitely check it out.
Unlike most journals, Reading Religion makes its reviews of the latest
publications in the study of religion freely available for all to read. It’s a
brilliant idea which will hopefully help to make scholarly research access to a
far broader audience outside of the so-called ivory tower. I have recently had
the honour of having been invited to join the site’s editorial board, which is
an exciting prospect. Hopefully, 2018 will prove to be as interesting and as
productive.
