Description:
Since the origins of contemporary neo-Paganism in the 1950s, neo-Pagan communities have been riven by conflicts surrounding the appropriation of art, ritual, music and identity from colonised indigenous cultures. Fundamental views of ethnically owned cultural property and heritage are juxtaposed with notions of universal ownership reflecting post modern cosmopolitanism. These perspectives of cultural appropriation and belonging are profoundly shaped by the twin concerns of needing to maintain a sense of authenticity in ritual, symbolism and belief, and by access to public representation which is shaped by a long history of colonial and post-colonial engagement with indigenes. Furthermore, issues of wealth, power and representation and the structural issues of cultural transmission within indigenous and neo-Pagan communities further complicate the issues surrounding cultural ownership and identity. The paper argues that the experience of romanticism and empire are central to understanding the appropriation of the indigenous by neo-pagan communities but also recognises that deep connections and genuine commitment to shared communicative discourse in a contemporary cultural context are part of this relationship. This paper negotiates these issues in relation to the engagement of neo-Pagan discourses with colonial indigenous culture in relation to romantic constructions of ethnicity, community, language and cultural property.
Description:
The attack on St Mary’s Church in Bungay on August 4 1577 has become a centre piece of community identity and regional East Anglian folklore. The mythology surrounding the attack of the ghost dog Black Shuck have become an integral part of the community’s sense of English local identity in the face of the pressures posed by globalization, economic development and rapidly changing ethnic and generational demographics. The mythology has also attracted international attention from ghost hunters, crypto-zoologists, folklorists and novelists leading to an integration of indigenous folklore and globalised popular culture. This paper is based on archival research of the development of the local folklore surrounding Black Shuck in relation to major social and demographic challenges. In particular, this paper will focus on the use of the Black Shuck folklore to create a sense of eternal transcendent English ethnicity tied to the landscape and the use of supernaturalism to legitimate a folkloric construction of ethnic identity.