tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29711878.post3926053758982901737..comments2024-03-23T09:27:34.737+02:00Comments on Traditionalists: Euro-Paganism: One or many?Mark Sedgwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09998818251387897344noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29711878.post-52984650876566183302012-05-28T23:35:56.083+02:002012-05-28T23:35:56.083+02:00Labelling people as neo folk pagan should be a res...Labelling people as neo folk pagan should be a result from years of research and as a conclusion of a very well fundamented ethnographic account, as an anthropologist I've been impressed on 'neo-pagan' slavic symbolism and imagery among brazilian youth. Some days ago I've seen a guy wearing viking costumes...I wonder where are the anthropologists hiding, these 'cultures' (if there's any) should be studied.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29711878.post-50572122994475121502008-02-24T15:48:00.000+02:002008-02-24T15:48:00.000+02:00A more critical view of so-called "neofolk"....For...A more critical view of so-called "neofolk"....<BR/><BR/>For years, admiration of social Darwinism, volkisch writers, European paganism, together with condemnation of religion, technology and the modern world have come to define the so-called "neofolk" scene. This collective movement, with its base and ideology in centuries past, has attempted through song, in print, and grassroots activism to contest a postmodern landscape. However with the rejection of religion, poor comprehension of forms of power and a flexible, highly developed late-capitalism, does this musical sphere and its related social movements serve any purpose?<BR/><BR/>Today, issues of hyper-reality, economic deregulation, cultural deterioration, defeat of grand theories and the intensification of social isolation, fragmentation and zero-consciousness have increasingly altered the way the world functions. Consequences of this period have created new networks of power, from supra-national organizations to corporations, beginning and ending ubiquitously, defining truth and modern reality. Yet, despite the contentious times, for these "neofolk" units and related social movements there is an inability to articulate the world around them, ultimately discovering themselves unable to adapt their critique. Instead, as a group, "neofolkians" are more fascinated with archaic hobby research, Germanic fashion, and the efforts to reconstruct the past. When pressed in interviews to address the mass culture they are supposedly defying, vague topics of "art," "personal enjoyment," and the wishy-washy, ironic "non-political" answers become routine. If their aim is simply self-expression, why put out any public release, be it in print or compact disc? Is it simply notoriety? If not, what is the objective? Music groups, admittedly, are never the vanguard of scholarly thought, nonetheless if "neofolkians" and the general pagan social movement which accompanies it see themselves outside the capitalistic spectrum (thus retaining a "higher goal") and do intend to assess critically the contemporary Western worldview, then a reassessment of their collective philosophy, including fresh looks at late capitalism and less radical confrontations with religion are essential. If not, a once promising assembly will continue down the path of an ever-shrinking subculture - lacking credibility and intellectual substance.<BR/><BR/>The remaining essay can read at<BR/>www.heathenharvest.com/article.php?story=2007051417505635<BR/>or in German in the magazine Ikonen, "Religion, Rebellion, Erneuerung: Neofolk im Kontext der Postmodernen Philosophie"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com