Papers by Susannah Crockford
Environment and Society, 2020
How do scientists produce the ocean as space through their work and words? In this article, I exa... more How do scientists produce the ocean as space through their work and words? In this article, I examine how the techniques and tools of oceanographers constitute ocean science. Bringing theoretical literature from science and technology studies on how scientists "do" science into conversation with fine-grained ethnographic and sociological accounts of scientists in the field, I explore how ocean science is made, produced, and negotiated. Within this central concern, the technologies used to obtain data draw particular focus. Juxtaposed with this literature is a corpus by ocean scientists about their own work as well as interview data from original research. Examining the differences between scientists' self-descriptions and analyses of them by social scientists leads to a productive exploration of how ocean science is constituted and how this work delineates the ocean as a form of striated space. Th is corpus of literature is placed in the context of climate change in the final section.
Anthropology News, 2016
Fears and beliefs about guns are key to a survivalist culture of self-reliance.
Nova Religio, 2019
Fasting is an unexplored area of New Age spirituality. Using material that is primarily ethnograp... more Fasting is an unexplored area of New Age spirituality. Using material that is primarily ethnographic, based on long-term participant observation fieldwork in Sedona, Arizona, a small town renowned for its New Age associations, this article examines some forms of fasting that are commonly recommended and attempted in New Age spirituality. The ethnographic data are supplemented with material drawn from two New Age spiritual leaders who are connected to Sedona, both of whom recommend fasting. Fasting is analyzed as a form of managing and organizing interspecies relationality, following the work of Graham Harvey. The consequences are framed in terms of the effects fasting has on the social organization of relatedness, or kinship, and on accusations of being dangerous or exhibiting “cult-like” behavior.
Nova Religio, 2018
This article examines representations of Peoples Temple in popular culture through the lens of mi... more This article examines representations of Peoples Temple in popular culture through the lens of mimesis, understood as a process of repetition and re-creation of specific elements. This process produces what is understood as a “cult” in popular culture, which is divorced from the complex historical reality of Peoples Temple. Three symbolic strands combine to construct the concept of a “cult”: the power of a charismatic leader, isolation from outside influences, and consuming poison, or “drinking the Kool-Aid.” In popular culture, these symbols are used in order to apportion blame, to learn lessons, and to act as a warning. Peoples Temple was a collective trauma for American culture as well as an individual trauma for survivors. The process of mimesis, therefore, is a way of both memorializing and reinscribing this trauma on a cultural level. Examples from ethnographic research conducted in Sedona, Arizona, are used to illustrate how symbols of Jonestown generated by cultural mimesis continue to be invoked by participants in contemporary minority religions as a way to signal their concern about whether they belong to a cult.
Correspondences, 2018
In this article, we introduce the ContERN special issue on ethnographies of the esoteric. While t... more In this article, we introduce the ContERN special issue on ethnographies of the esoteric. While the study of esotericism has been dominated by historical-philological scholarship, recent years have seen an increase in anthropological approaches to contemporary esotericism. We argue that this development provides the field not only with new tools, but also fresh perspectives on long-standing theoretical challenges. What are the implications of situating esotericism in particular ethnographic fieldsites? How does anthropological theory reflect on deep-rooted assumptions in the field? We address these questions using examples from the articles in the present special issue as well as other recent ethnographies of esoteric subject matter.
Correspondences, 2018
Astrology is a feature of everyday conversation and the local spiritual scene in Sedona, Arizona,... more Astrology is a feature of everyday conversation and the local spiritual scene in Sedona, Arizona, a small town renowned for its " vortexes ". As part of a variegated new age spirituality, astrology " works " in three main ways that are examined in this article. It is an explanatory model for misfortune; a symbolic system; and a source of epistemic capital. A series of well-known ethnographic studies of African divination are used to contextualise astrology as an American form of divination. Based on almost two years of participant observation fieldwork in Northern Arizona, the ethnographic material presented in this article illuminates the question of why astrology continues to be a relevant and useful practice for Americans, despite its widespread rejection by political and scientific authorities.
Religion, State and Society, 2018
The election of Donald Trump in 2016 has been identified by observers as the outcome of a wave of... more The election of Donald Trump in 2016 has been identified by observers as the outcome of a wave of nationalist populism in the U.S.A. This article interrogates the meaning of nationalist populism in contemporary American culture with respect to far-right extremism. White supremacists, border vigilantes, and survivalists are forms of far-right extremism that illuminate the nationalist populism of mainstream right-wing American politics. In particular, the politics of religion of the far-right are examined as a microcosm of the Christian right. Using ethnographic data collected over a period of four years in northern Arizona, the politics of religion of one particular family renders anthropological nuance to broad categorisations of the ‘white working class’ and its importance in the election of Donald Trump. How this family variously constructs ‘God’ as a central value of the American nation indicates the ongoing and potentially dangerous struggles of nationalism in the current political climate.
The Pomegranate, Jan 2013
This paper will explore shared symbols in Western shamanism, their meanings and signification. S... more This paper will explore shared symbols in Western shamanism, their meanings and signification. Shamanism is a contested and multivalent term, so first there will be a theoretical delimitation of what is meant by Western shamanism. The definition presented is a religious practice found in contemporary Western society. Symbolism will then be analysed through three main categories. The first category of symbols will be the use of darkness/light metaphors, and their meaning and importance in Western shamanism. Then the symbol of soul loss and retrieval will be analysed, and the image of the journeys and what this is supposed to achieve. Finally, the practice of symbolic appropriation will be tackled by analysing the use (and abuse) of symbols from other cultures. What this will demonstrate on the one hand is the Western origin of the shared symbols used in Western shamanism and on the other hand how this origin is concealed with non-Western symbols, used as a strategy of legitimation.
… : The International Journal of Pagan Studies, Jan 1, 2011
Shamanic practices and practitioners in Western countries are often derided as "inauthentic" by b... more Shamanic practices and practitioners in Western countries are often derided as "inauthentic" by both scholars and members of indigenous communities. The experience derived from such practices is therefore also implied to be contrived. This paper analyses shamanism in the United Kingdom as part of "Western shamanism" rather than "neo-shamanism." Western shamanism is understood to be a valid religious tradition found in Europe and America that is based on Western cultural and religious traditions. The concept of authenticity is critically examined as a cultural construct, and the validity of a religious experience is located subjectively.
Book Reviews by Susannah Crockford
Interviews by Susannah Crockford
In some contexts, asking the question “what gender is nature?” might provoke a condescending resp... more In some contexts, asking the question “what gender is nature?” might provoke a condescending response – “of course nature doesn’t have a gender”. Yet, despite this naturalistic – get it? – response, in an enormous array of contemporary and historic discourses we find nature being gendered… and, in many cases, this gender is female. Is, as Sherry Ortner once asked, Female to Nature as Male is to Culture? Where does this discourse come from? How does this gendering of nature intersect with contemporary forms of ecospirituality? And religion more generally? Why does it matter? And for whom? Joining Chris today to discuss these questions and more, is Dr Susannah Crockford of Ghent University.
This interview was recorded at the June 2018 EASR Conference on Multiple Religious Identities in Bern, Switzerland, where Susannah has delivered a paper entitled “What Gender is ‘Nature’? An approach to new age ecospirituality in theory and practice.”
Uploads
Papers by Susannah Crockford
Book Reviews by Susannah Crockford
Interviews by Susannah Crockford
This interview was recorded at the June 2018 EASR Conference on Multiple Religious Identities in Bern, Switzerland, where Susannah has delivered a paper entitled “What Gender is ‘Nature’? An approach to new age ecospirituality in theory and practice.”
This interview was recorded at the June 2018 EASR Conference on Multiple Religious Identities in Bern, Switzerland, where Susannah has delivered a paper entitled “What Gender is ‘Nature’? An approach to new age ecospirituality in theory and practice.”