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Jenny Blain is senior lecturer in Applied Social Sciences, Faculty of Development and Society, Sheffield Hallam University, where she leads the MA/MSc Programme in Social Science Research Methods. Her research interests include paganisms, shamanism and consciousness, gender and sexuality, discourse theory and constructions of political and social inclusion and exclusion.
Robert Wallis is Associate Professor of Visual Culture at Richmond University London, where he is Associate Director of the MA in Art History. He is also an Associate Lecturer with the Open University. His research interests include prehistoric and indigenous art in shamanistic and animistic contexts, as well as the representation of the past in the present.
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Paganism is held to be the fastest growing “religion” in Britain today.
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Discusses pagan adoption and guardianship of “sacred sites”. |
“Blain and Wallis enter the arena of clashing
viewpoints on history, preservation, and sacrality.” Professor
Chas S. Clifton, Colorado State University-Pueblo
“This book sets out current issues and dilemmas relating to ‘sacred
landscape’ to a range of audiences at home and overseas,
including ‘pilgrims’, heritage managers and academics.” Professor
Ronald Hutton, University of Bristol
“This volume offers a sophisticated perspective on the
complex phenomenon of contemporary pagan relationships with the
prehistoric past.” Professor Julian Thomas, University
of Manchester
“Anthropologist Blain and archaeologist Wallis explore
the discursive construction of sacred sites in Britain – most
famously Stonehenge, but many others as well – by pagans
and heritage management. Their research is based in perceptions
of changing and problematic inscriptions of meaning and rights
within a context of the growth of paganism, particularly in Britain
and the US, as expressions of spirituality often with a counter-culture
bent.” Reference & Research Book News
Paganism is held to be the fastest growing
'religion' in Britain today. Pagan identities and constructions
of sacredness contest assumptions of a 'closed' past and untouchable
heritage, within a socio-politics in which prehistoric archaeology – the stone circles, burial cairns and rock art of the British Isles – is itself subject to political and economic threats. Pagans see prehistoric monuments in a living, enchanted landscape of deities, ancestors, spirits, ‘wights' and other non-human agencies engaged with for personal and community empowerment. From all areas of Britain and indeed worldwide, people come to sacred sites of prehistory to make pilgrimage, befriend places, give offerings, act as unofficial ‘site guardians’, campaign for ‘site welfare’. Summer solstice access at Stonehenge attracts tens of thousands of celebrants; threats of quarrying near Derbyshire's Nine Ladies stone circle or Yorkshire's Thornborough Henges lead to protests and campaigns for the preservation of sacred landscapes and conservation of plant and animal species. Pagans can be seen as allies to the interests of heritage management, yet instances of site damage and recent claims for the reburial of non-Christian human remains disrupt the preservation ethos of those who manage and study these sites, and the large-scale celebrations at Stonehenge and Avebury are subject to continual negotiation.
In this book an anthropologist (Blain) and archaeologist
(Wallis) examine interfaces between paganisms and archaeology,
considering the emergence of ‘sacred sites’ in pagan and heritage discourse and implications of pagan involvement for heritage management, archaeology, anthropology – and for pagans themselves, as well as considering practical guidelines for reciprocal benefit.
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List of Contents to follow |
Publication Details
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ISBN: |
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9781845191306 p/b |
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Page Extent / Format: |
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256 pp. / 229 x 152 mm |
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Release Date: |
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June 2007 |
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Illustrated: |
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Yes |
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Paperback Price: |
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£17.95 / $37.50 |
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