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A World Full of Heathens

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A World Full of Heathens A World Full of Heathens Towards Understanding Perceptions of History, Society, and the Self Amongst Contemporary Germanic Pagans By Joshua M. Cragle 1 | P a g e A World Full of Heathens Towards Understanding Perceptions of History, Society, and the Self Amongst Contemporary Germanic Pagans Joshua M. Cragle - 10861742 [email protected] Master Social and Cultural Anthropology Graduate School of Social Sciences University of Amsterdam Academic year 2014-1015 MA Thesis Word Count: 29,722 Supervisor Dr. Peter van Rooden Readers Dr. Oskar Verkaaik Dr. Anne de Jong 2 | P a g e Plagiarism Declaration I declare that this thesis meets the rules and regulation for fraud and plagiarism as set by the University of Amsterdam Joshua M. Cragle, June 1st, 2015 3 | P a g e Dedication I dedicate this thesis to those Heathens that showed me the virtue of hospitality, by allowing me to attend their rituals, patiently answering my questions, participating in my survey, and having the courage to share intimate stories of their lives and thoughts with me. It was an honor to get to know so many fascinating, kind, and intelligent individuals from the Heathen community around the world. I would also like to send a special thank you to my family, my friends Brian, Sean, and Jon for their consistent encouragement and support, and Dr. Kyle Wilkison, who has been a consistent teacher and mentor throughout the years. Last but not least, I would like to dedicate this thesis to my loving wife Mary, without whose support and patience this endeavor would not have been possible. 4 | P a g e “What does our great historical hunger signify, our clutching about us of countless cultures, our consuming desire for knowledge, if not the loss of myth, of a mythic home, the mythic womb?” -Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy 5 | P a g e Table of Contents Pg. Introduction 8 0.1 Thesis Summary 8 0.2 Theoretical Framework 9 0.3 Field Methods 11 Chapter 1: Heathenry and Structure 13 1.1 The Current State of Heathenry: Neo-Tribalism and Demographics 13 1.2 Authority, Charisma, and Revelation 18 1.3 Sources, Scholarship, and Authenticity 21 1.4 Recognition and Legitimacy: Politics, Land, and Hofs 24 Chapter 2: Ethics and Inclusion 28 2.1 An Overview of Heathen Ethics 28 2.2 Racism and the Folkish/Universalist Conundrum 31 2.3 The Role of Gender and Sexual Orientation 37 Chapter 3: Heathens and Society 42 3.1 Organized Religion and Monotheism 42 3.2 Western Civilization, Modernism, and Globalization 46 Chapter 4: Historical Foundations 53 4.1 Conversion in the Early Middle Ages 53 4.2 Germanic Paganism During the Romantic Era 57 4.3 Germanic Paganism Under the Third Reich and it's Repercussions 61 4.4 Germanic Paganism Since the 1970's 65 6 | P a g e Conclusion 69 Epilogue: Honoring the Ancestors 72 Bibliography 77 Appendix A: Survey Results 83 Appendix B: Organization Web Pages 102 7 | P a g e Introduction 0.1 Thesis Summary In January of 2015 I set off to research how a Viking Age ethics system was being revived amongst contemporary Germanic Pagans, also known as Heathens. I was particularly interested in what seemed to be a persistent emphasis on the heroic, and what necessitated that emphasis in terms of society, self improvement, and psychology. However, while ethics remained a persistent feature of my research, I gradually found my focus shifting more towards identity. As a result, the purpose of my research became addressing the following question: How do Heathens conceptualize themselves in relation to each other, society, and history? I will argue that Heathenry is essentially a neo-tribal movement with historical foundations rooted deeply in German Romanticism. Furthermore, I will suggest that the recent growth of Heathenism is largely dependent on perceptions of globalization, a sense of threat to cultural identity, dissatisfaction with modernism, rebellion against the dominance of Judeo-Christian religion, and an overwhelming sense of spiritual void for those of European descent. In addition, I will contest the common stereotypes of Heathens being predominantly far right, racist, and homophobic. Instead, I will show that such individuals make up only a minority of the Heathen demographic, and that most Heathens tend to be inclusive, defenders of diversity, acceptant of alternative sexualities and gender roles, and often far to the left on environmental policies. In order to address these arguments, this thesis will look at Heathen approaches towards: authority, sources, history, inclusion, socio-political processes (such as globalization), and identity. My hope in writing this thesis is to contribute to the literature on emergent religions, particularly the recent growth of neo-paganism. Neo-paganism continues to be one of the fastest growing spiritual communities in the West (with 1-4 million adherents). For neo-pagan studies objective scholarly research is in dire need, as those writing in the field have tended to be neo-pagans themselves, lending much of the literature to romanticism or over-simplification. On the other side, neo-paganism has been misrepresented by scholars, many of whom equate its varying traditions as having similar values and historical origins. While literature and pop-culture have moved away from connecting neo-pagans with Satanism and the occult, pagans are still often demonized, marginalized, and dismissed as simply being fantasy driven. In the case of Germanic Neo-Pagans, researchers have often painted a picture of the majority based on case studies with extremists. In this thesis I have tried my utmost to avoid these errors, and simply represent the data which I have collected. I was particularly interested in doing a comparative research project, which took into account similarities and differences between Heathens across geographic boundaries and practice styles. I also tried to include as much data as possible on those Heathens which have often been ignored in previous academic literature. As a result, this thesis is largely composed by the thoughts and 8 | P a g e statements of Heathens themselves. I am aware that my data and interpretations can and should be contested by Heathens and scholars alike, which I readily encourage in order to promote a more balanced discourse on neo-paganism and Heathenry in particular. 0.2 Theoretical Framework When it comes to the social sciences I have always been highly skeptical of using a single theory to explain cultural phenomena. Too often in academic literature are singular approaches used to reduce extremely complex processes down to nice and neat classification systems that do not correspond with reality. As a result, I did not start off with the notion of "I am setting off to prove" as more so "I am setting off to understand". By this I mean that, instead of looking for specific data to fit my hypothesis I have instead invested research into particular categories and in the end looked for correlating patterns. This approach is very similar to the controversial Grounded Theory method as proposed by Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss in the 1960's (Evans 2013). Essentially, Grounded Theory is an inductive form of qualitative research used to assess visible patterns observed from a variety of methods within separate contexts. Simply put, Grounded Theory is valuable for studying themes, ideas, concepts or social processes (Bowen 2006), particularly for researchers using a variety of formats for data collection. Grounded theory is also useful in developing a holistic rather than a reductionist perspective. By reductionism, I mean gaining insight into "objects and events by analyzing the elementary parts" (Verschuren 2001:391). While this approach has been very useful, particularly in the natural sciences, it can make the mistake of identifying the "unit as the whole". In contrast, holism tries to use an "ecological approach, which examines how individual components interact to become systems whose nature cannot be completely understood from looking only at the sum of the parts" (Burgelman 2011:594). Holistic researchers tend to focus on: patterns, parallels, group attributes, themes, and more interactive research methods. As opposed to reductionist research which tends to rely on: variables, measurement, deductive knowledge, and linear research strategies (Verschuren 2001). However, while loosely using Grounded Theory as a starting point, I have also incorporated other theoretical concepts to address each topic I researched. And while these are mentioned in the context of the subjects themselves for each chapter, I will state them briefly here as well. Partially, I will be addressing the function of ethics within Heathenry, for which I use the idea that ethics or moral systems essentially determine ones standing or position in relation to: an ideal self, society, or the universe/higher reality (Wright 1909). In addition, in order to address identity I will be utilizing approaches from anthropology, sociology, and narrative psychology. Particularly, Golubovic's description that identity refers to "where one belongs" (Golubovic 2010:25), Anthony Giddens notion that identity is a "symbolic 9 | P a g e construction", and the idea of the "narrative self", which suggests that "the stories we live by are cultural texts" (Jones 2003:620). I will also be addressing heritage and historicity. In terms of heritage, I use the interpretation that heritage is "a mode of cultural production in the present that has recourse to the past" (Chase 2006:148). Heritage then is an aspect of historicity, "a human situation in flow, where versions of the past and future assume present form in relation to events, political needs, available cultural forms and emotional dispositions" (Hirsch 2014:262). Contemporaries establish connections with certain moments of history, which can take the form of what Bourdieu has called "symbolic capital" (Steinmetz 2011).
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