I MITTEN AV CIRKELN - en etnologisk studie om nyhedniska identitetskonstruktioner

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyse how female neopagan practitioners form their identities individually as well as collectively. Using Ernesto Laclau’s and Chantal Mouffe’s discourse theory and Anthony Giddens’ descriptions of late modernity and self-identity, I intend to investigate my informants’ construction and upholding of a meaningful identity and sense of self. I will also look at how the neopagan movement can be viewed as a phenomenon closely interwoven with the overriding tendencies in our contemporary society. Neopaganism is an umbrella term that is used to describe a number of modern nature religions that take their inspiration from pre-Christian traditions. Central aspects of this belief system are a holistic worldview, the belief in and use of magic, and polytheism. The main part of the material is composed of interviews with five neopagan practitioners as well as discussion threads on neopagan websites. By looking at how the process of identification takes place and how the identity as a neopagan becomes meaningful, my hope is to contribute to the yet small but emerging field of research surrounding modern witchcraft in the Nordic countries. Throughout the paper’s five chapters I will show how the informants create and uphold identity through narrative, representation, categorisation and demarcation. The study shows that the internet plays an important part in the constitution of neopagan group identity and sense of community. It is also mainly on the internet that the strife and negotiations of meaning take place. The informants create their identities and identifications as neopagans and witches through a number of positively loaded signs. This process of identification often locates the practitioners in opposition to different tendencies in the late modern society. The set of meaningful signs is not a stable construction and a source of conflict within the group. On an individual level the practice of magic and rituals create a wayfor the informants to connect with what they see as the inner self and in a therapeutic manner work with the self.