Indigenizing Movements in Europe - Graham Harvey

Indigenizing Movements in Europe - Graham Harvey

Is Druidry Indigenous? The Politics of Pagan Indigeneity Discourse

Indigenizing Movements in Europe - Graham Harvey

Suzanne Owen [+-]
Leeds Trinity University
Suzanne Owen obtained her PhD from the University of Edinburgh and published her thesis as The Appropriation of Native American Spirituality (Continuum 2008). She is currently Reader in Religious Studies at Leeds Trinity University in the UK researching indigeneity in Newfoundland and British Druidry

Description

This chapter will begin by asking if ‘indigenous’, associated as it is with ‘colonised peoples’, is being employed strategically by Druids in Britain to support cultural or political aims. Prominent Druids make various claims to indigeneity, presenting Druidry as the pre-Christian religion of the British Isles and that it originated there. By 'religion' it also assumes it was a culture equal to if not superior to Christianity - similar to views of antiquarians in earlier centuries who idealised a pre-Christian culture equal to ancient Greece. Although British Druids refute the nationalist tag, and make efforts to root out those tendencies, it can be argued that it is a love of the land rather than the country per se that drives indigeneity discourses in British Druidry.

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Citation

Owen, Suzanne. Is Druidry Indigenous? The Politics of Pagan Indigeneity Discourse. Indigenizing Movements in Europe. Equinox eBooks Publishing, United Kingdom. p. 71-83 Mar 2020. ISBN 9781781797914. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=36294. Date accessed: 19 Mar 2024 doi: 10.1558/equinox.36294. Mar 2020

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