Teen Witches and Sociologists
Teenage Witches: Magical Youth and the Search for Self, a sociological study of young Pagan Witches, will be shipping in a few days from Rutgers University Press.I have heard co-authors Helen Berger and Doug Ezzy give presentations from their research, which is excellent.
From the Rutgers University Press catalog:
As Helen A. Berger and Douglas Ezzy show in this in-depth look into the lives of teenage Witches, the reality of their practices, beliefs, values, and motivations is very different from the sensational depictions we see in popular culture. Drawing on extensive research across three countries-the United States, England, and Australia-and interviews with young people from diverse backgrounds, what they find are highly spiritual and self-reflective young men and women attempting to make sense of a postmodern world via a religion that celebrates the earth and emphasizes self-development.
Not to be confused with Silver Ravenwolf's Teen Witch.
Labels: Paganism, teens, Wicca, Witchcraft
posted by Chas S. Clifton at 2:01 PM Permalink
2 Comments:
I read Berger's A Community of Witches several years ago--must've been shortly after it came out--and really liked it. I'll have to take a look at this one.
I'm not sure why they do not mention it in their book, but at the same London conference where they met, Doug also sat down with Jim Lewis, Hannah Johnston, Melissa Harrington and myself and during the conversation we all discussed the possibility of doing a teen witchcraft book. In fact, Doug, Hannah and I all presented in the teen witchcraft panel! At first, we (Hannah and I) suggested that Jim and Doug edit a collection which the rest of us might contribute to, since they were "senior" academics, but soon after Hannah and I expressed an interest in moving the project along, Jim and Doug both suggested Hannah and I do it with their "guidance" and blessing, as it would be our first editing project. Jim contributed an article, as did Doug and Helen (since they were collaborating on research at the time). They (Doug and Helen) never mentioned they were also working on their own book, and never even asked it be included in their bio, which really surprised us since the projects have each taken several years. Despite the origins of their book happening at the same time as ours, theirs has come out first with apparently no mention of the initial collaboratory conversations or the larger number of people who took part in them. I just thought this was worth mentioning. Hannah and I certainly thought it worthy of inclusion in our introduction.
Hannah's and my collection, The New Generation Witches, will be out from Ashgate Press this fall.
Post a Comment
<< Home