Aloha,
Sabina Magliocco wrote:
> Yes, this is exactly right on. Lots of ethnographers/ anthropologists/ folklorists experience outrage from members of the communities they study; I first experienced it in my Sardinian field research in the 80s. Foucault would say being subjected to the ethnographic gaze is inherently disempowering; I think this is what fuels a lot of the negative Pagan reactions to what academics write about them.
>
I can't figure out why we people don't want to become objects of
academic scrutiny,
but no, we don't. I don't think that it's because we--in advance--don't
care for possible
conclusions. But maybe we don't. [Once, as a happy grad student eagerly
learning the
ins and outs of ethnophotography, I cluelessly put camera to my own
department.
It turned out to be a big mistake. I ended up with sets of photos that I
dared not
show anybody...]
World views are wonderful things. But often they clash. And maybe
equally often,
one does not tolerate the jostling presence of others around it.
Academic world views
may offer a nudge to the world views they study, knowing that, for the
most part,
those world views cannot jostle right back.
These days I find that what academics have to say about Pagans and Paganism
is much more interesting than what many Pagans have to say about
Paganism. Maybe
because, as a Pagan, I sure can't account for all the many things going
on. I'm often
tempted to point at the influences of popular culture and far-flung
communications,
but I don't think that those really cover all the bases.
What I'm pretty sure of is that modern Paganism's founding and
sustaining stories
are legends, not histories. And that we are all similarly credulous
about things we
believe we're skeptical about. Lines of transmission of ancient
witchcraft that end
up with the owners of witchcraft museums and happy-go-lucky
entrepreneurs and
suburban occultists and new approach therapists and all the rest.
Something else is
going on here, and academic focus appears to be more likely to turn it
up than more
legends and less critical inquiry.
Musing Lots Of Pagans Baffle Me & I'm One Of Them! Rose,
Pitch
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