Cultural Appropriation in Contemporary Neopaganism and Witchcraft

by Kathryn Gottlieb

This thesis examines the discourse surrounding cultural appropriation in contemporary witchcraft and neopaganism, particularly online. The aim of this thesis is to look at how cultural appropriation became such a central topic in the witch and neopagan community and to see what can be learned about the community as a whole from this discourse. Definitions, neutralization techniques, and the development of alternative practices and terminologies are all discussed, as well as how cultural appropriation relates to the history of witchcraft as a whole. Seven witch/neopagan members of the popular blogging platform tumblr.com were interviewed for this study to examine how the discourse affected them in their personal lives and spiritual practices. Their experiences are examined in relation to the culture of tumblr as a whole and in the context of the history of modern witchcraft and neopaganism.

88 pages, Unknown Binding

Published March 5, 2017

Reviews

[goose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be a very insightful thesis regarding cultural appropriation within the witch community, particularly the online community, as well as cultural appropriation in and of itself. Although I found myself disagreeing with a small handful of the author’s individual conclusions, overall I felt as though they were very honest and exploratory about their own personal biases in a way that was very helpful to the voice of the rest of the paper. It seems to be a well researched thesis with a lot of thought provoking information, especially for young witches who are white and beginning their practice. One part that particularly resonated with me was a quote from the passage regarding the fact that some witches will claim a god or deity called them to a particular practice that is not their own.

“Non-physical beings can’t be proven to exist 10000%. They just can’t. But you know who can be prove to exist? Physical humans and beings that live here on this (punishment orb) planet with you. And honestly, anyone with any logic should be able to understand that we should be more vested in protecting the actual beings on this planet, you know, the ones we can prove that exist, than worrying about a spirit that might be from a Closed Culture coming to call (if they come to call at all).” -tumblr user thetwistedrope

I feel like, even outside of this explicit context (of a deity calling upon someone not from the original culture), this is an important reminder to many where an integral aspect of our emphasis should be: supporting the voices and members of the living communities who are being affected by spiritual white privilege and entitlement.