Gimme That Real Old Time Religion: Re-Embedding White Identities
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
GIMME THAT REAL OLD TIME RELIGION: RE-EMBEDDING WHITE IDENTITIES THROUGH ETHNIC NEO-PAGAN RECONFIGURATIONS OF EUROPEAN HERITAGE IN TEXAS A Dissertation by BRETT HOWARD FURTH Submitted to the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Chair of Committee, Thomas Green Committee Members, Norbert Dannhaeuser D. Bruce Dickson Giovanna Del Negro Head of Department, Cynthia Werner August 2015 Major Subject: Anthropology Copyright 2015 Brett Howard Furth ABSTRACT According to social theorists, Westerners are increasingly inter-connected with other societies through the complex processes of modernity and globalization, thereby creating an increasingly multiethnic and religiously pluralistic world still dominated by the rationalism of modernity. Consequently, their world is disenchanted and their identities disembedded from traditional contexts, thus placing many individuals in a state of identity crisis. For working and middle-class white Americans, this problem is exacerbated by the unmarkedness of white racial identities, and the subsumption of ancestral ethnic European identities within this unmarked racial category. This dilemma has led some to question and challenge the authenticity and legitimacy of their religious identities and traditions, and to develop strategies to re-embed, revalorize, and refashion their racial and class identities. My research offers an investigation of one such strategy, specifically that employed by Neo- Pagans with an ethnic focus. I explore how recent traditions compose a new strategy that is attractive to white Americans seeking to re-root and give new meanings to their racial and religious identities. Furthermore, I suggest that a key reason some are drawn to and mark identification with ethnic Neo-Pagan traditions is a desire to refashion ethnoreligious identities to re-embed themselves in a re-enchanted physical and social world where ethnic ancestry and whiteness matter in new ways. This research is guided by the following questions: How might ethnic Neo-Pagan options mitigate the foregoing dilemma experienced by primarily white and working or middle-class adherents? What potential benefits come with identification with these traditions? Are ethnic Neo-Pagans concerned with legitimacy and authenticity as they ii reconstruct European folk traditions and histories, and how might those practices and narratives conflate European ethnicities into newly revalorized forms of whiteness? These questions are addressed through a combination of qualitative data-collection methods. Interview and participant observation data for this project were collected at diverse Neo- Pagan field sites in Texas. I identified and analyzed themes of ethnic heritage and ancestry that emerged from these data to determine how they bear on prominent race and class performance theories, particularly regarding questions about changing constructions of race, ethnicity, and religious identities in response to globalization. iii DEDICATION I dedicate this work to my loving and supportive husband, my amazing daughter, and the people of the Neo-Pagan community of Texas. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my committee chair, Dr. Green, and my committee members, Dr. Dannhaeuser, Dr. Dickson, and Dr. Del Negro, for their guidance and support throughout the course of this research. Thanks also go to my friends and colleagues and the department faculty and staff at Texas A&M University for their support. I especially wish to thank Rebekah Luza for all of her invaluable assistance. I also want to extend my gratitude to the Texas A&M Department of Anthropology, the Texas A&M Graduate Student Council, the Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research, and Houston Community College for helping to fund this project. Finally, I offer deep thanks to my friends and family in the Texas Neo-Pagan community, who whole-heartedly supported me in my project, welcomed me into their rituals and homes, and lovingly blessed me and my family beyond measure. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................................... ii DEDICATION ..................................................................................................................................iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................v TABLE OF CONTENTS.................................................................................................................vi LIST OF FIGURES...........................................................................................................................ix CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION, LITERATURE REVIEW, AND RESEARCH DESIGN .............................................................................................................................................. 1 Introduction and Statement of the Problem.............................................................................. 1 Research Focus and Guiding Questions..................................................................................... 4 Literature Review............................................................................................................................ 5 Background: Reconstructionist and Eclectic Neo-Paganisms ............................................ 5 Globalization and Racial and Religious Strategies to Mitigate Disembedded Western Identities ...................................................................................................................... 8 Reconstructionist Neo-Paganisms as Reconstructions of Ethnicity and Race...............13 Cultural Appropriation, “Reclaiming,” and the Construction of Ethnoreligious Authenticity and Legitimacy...................................................................................................15 Druidry and Other Non-Heathen Neo-Paganisms as Middle Paths?..............................18 Research Design, Field Sites, and Methodology......................................................................21 Research Design.......................................................................................................................21 Site Descriptions and Sampling .............................................................................................23 1) The Council of Magickal Arts.......................................................................................24 2) Pagan Pride Day and Houston Pagan Night Out Events ........................................26 3) Ár nDraíocht Féin (“Our Own Druidry”)..................................................................28 4) Celtic Ways Coven..........................................................................................................30 Methodology.............................................................................................................................31 1) Interviews.........................................................................................................................32 2) Participant Observation.................................................................................................34 3) Published and Digital Texts ..........................................................................................36 Researcher Positionality...............................................................................................................38 Broader Implications and Future Goals ...................................................................................43 CHAPTER II ETHNIC NEO-PAGAN ADAPTATIONS TO MODERNITY AND FOLK HISTORIES.........................................................................................................................45 vi Ethnic Neo-Pagan Perspectives on the Blessings and Curses of Modernity......................45 Ethnic Versus Eclectic Folk Histories, Concerns, and Values..............................................56 Folk History ..............................................................................................................................56 Divergent Views of the Burning Times Folk History........................................................60 Christianization of Europe Folk Histories...........................................................................73 Our Ancestral Past as a Model for Our Present......................................................................91 CHAPTER III THE CONSTRUCTION, USES, AND MEANINGS OF ETHNIC NEO-PAGAN ALTARS.................................................................................................................92 Modern and Postmodern Urbanity............................................................................................93 Altars as Folkloric Tactics...........................................................................................................98 Jill Clíodhna: an ADF Druid Case Study................................................................................103 Da Troll: a Heathen Case Study...............................................................................................119 Azure: a Hellenic Witch Case Study ........................................................................................124 Ethnic Neo-Pagan Altars: Bricolage, Tactics, and Ethnic Markers...................................140 CHAPTER