New Age and Modern Paganisms in Africa and in Europe 3102-FPAGA

The aim of this webinar is to explore, from a comparative perspective, the diverse expressions of the recent religious revival consisting in creative appropriations of the past through new forms of ritualization and ritual expertise, currently proliferating in post-colonial contexts (including post-Soviet and post-socialist countries as well as the global South). It seems tempting to consider such new forms of ritualization – often challenging the old religious status quo, aiming at the renegotiation of social relations, and proposing a novel vision of the self – in close association with New Age and Modern Paganisms, which have been conceptualized as religious phenomena emanating from and pertaining mainly to the West and/or the North. The global circulations of the objects, concepts, and people at this beginning of the 21 st century suggest that closer attention should be paid to the seemingly more peripheral locations in which they are developing.

Indeed, despite the diversity of their cultural references, the “back to the roots” movements expanding today in post-colonial contexts share several common features with Western/Northern type of New Age and Modern Paganisms. Notably they seek to restore or recreate supposedly ancient traditions, healing and spiritual techniques, values and worldviews that have been undermined by the colonial encounters, modern episteme, industrialization and Christianity. Archaeology, history, folklore, and anthropology are essential sources of inspiration in these efforts, leading to original representations of the past that are invariably set within the framework of bygone empires and/or of cultures considered primordial, authentic, and connected to nature.

In order to better understand the New Age and of modern Paganisms as global religious phenomena, we wish to focus on their African and Central European expressions from a range of perspectives that allow to develop a thorough comparison of the practices and representations involved. We will examine the profiles of social actors that create, facilitate and engage in the different forms of religious revival: their gender constructions, intellectual end economic backgrounds, political agendas, etc. We will analyze the ways in which they manipulate the resources at their disposal and their relationships to history and the past. We will also be particularly interested in the particular forms of ritualization that the reconstructions of the past entail and which are not always readily recognizable as such, and the modes of transmission of knowledge and experience they enable. In doing so, we hope to shed new light on the wider social relations these practices are embedded in as well as on the intertwining of religion, politics and science in the New Age and modern Paganisms.

During the course, the following topics will be discussed:

Modern paganism in a comparative perspective in Africa and Europe. Hybrisations and circulations.
Diasporic religions and New Age movements in the United States and other American countries.
Western esotericism between appropriation and imperialism.
Nature and environment in the constructed worldview of contemporary paganism in Europe.
Neopagan movements in Central and Eastern Europe (Rodnovers, neopagans in Baltic countries).
Connections between New Age, Modern Paganism and healing practices in Africa and Europe.
Technologisation and virtualisation of religious practices.