Forging Folklore:

Witches, Pagans and Neo-Tribal Cultures

May 4th-5th, 2007

Conference schedule

Unless indicated, panels contain 3 sessions of 20 minutes each, with each speaker given an additional 5 minutes for questions.

Friday May 4, 2007

Thompson Room, in the Barker Center

Registration 8:30am

Tea/coffee  9:00am

Panel 1   9:30-10:45 am   (Chair, Hannah Johnston)

The Magic Box: Neo-Folklore, Cyber-Magic and Technopaganism

Leslie Roth, Independent scholar
Authenticity Backlash: Technopagans, Chaos Magicians, and Postmodern Narratives of the Occult

David Kociemba, Emerson College, Boston
Forging Neo-Folklore through Role-Playing Games

Wendi Wilkerson, University of Louisiana, Lafayette
Curse-Poles, Cyberlore, Appropriation, and Tradition: The Case of the Digital Nidstang

Break: ** Move to Harvard Film Archive, Room B05 **  Two doors down!

Panel 2   11:00-12:15pm   (Chair, Rebecca Hunt)

Shadows of Books: Narrative Forms and Folklore

Matthieu Boyd, Harvard University
Pagan Past and Christian Present in the Realm of Breton Folklore: How Appropriate a Framework?

Randy P. Luncyzyns Conner, CIIS, San Francisco
Aradia, a Neo-Pagan Sutra

Lindsay Coleman, University of Melbourne
Father-monster and Fauns: The Faun as Father Surrogate in Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth

LUNCH ~~ and time to explore Harvard Square!

(After lunch we will be back in the Thompson Room

for the remainder of the conference)

2:15 pm Keynote Address

Professor Ronald Hutton, Bristol University, England
Modern Pagan Festivals

Break

Panel 3  3:30-4:45 pm  (Chair, David Kociemba)

Blood of the Ancients: Ethnicity and Authenticity

Sabina Magliocco, California State University – Northridge
From the Enchanted Worldview to re-Enchanting the World: Italian and Italian American Vernacular Religion

Hanneke Minkjan, University of Amsterdam the Netherlands
 ‘Nehalennia-Anna.’ Changing Images of the Goddess in the Question for Authenticity in the Dutch Goddess Movement

K.A. Laity, the College of St. Rose, NY
Finnish Charms: Appropriating Folk Magic from the Kalevala and Kanteletar

Break

Panel 4  5:00-6:15 pm (Chair, Lisa Vetere)

The Learning Times: Narratives, Texts and Knowledge

Lisa M. Vetere, Monmouth University
Othering the Puritan: Witchcraft Narratives, Liberal Myths and Economic Realities

Susan Harper-Bisso, University of Texas at Arlington
Psychic Aunts and Weird Kids: Neo-Pagan Conversion Narrative Themes as Folklore

Linda Lee, University of Pennsylvania
Are Witches Born or Made? Ambiguity and the Acquisition of Magical Knowledge

Break

6:30 pm Reception  and Guest Lecture

R. J. Stewart, Author and Folklorist
The Fakelore Question: or, Grandmothers Across the Atlantic

7:30 Ceili

SATURDAY May 5th, 2007

Panel 5   9:00-10:15 am   (Chair, Linda Lee)

Real Magic: Rites, Rituals and Traditions

Rebecca A. Hunt, University of Colorado at Denver
Neal Forsling: Crimson Dawn and Midsummer’s Eve

Galina Krasskova, Empire State College, New York
Animal Sacrifice and the Ritual of Blót in Modern Heathenry: An Ethnographic Exploration

Shelley J. Khadem, New School for Social Research, New York
Native Americans in Spiritual Discourse and Practice

Break

Panel 6   10:30-11:45 pm   (Chair, Peg Aloi)

Reclaiming: Cultural Appropriation and Identity

Byron Ballard, Independent scholar
Hillfolk Hoodoo and the Question of Cultural Strip-mining

Alexis Chapman, Independent Scholar
Searching for Authenticity: the New Myths of American Pagans

Break

Roundtable Discussion  12:00-12:30 pm

12:30 pm ~~ Closing Remarks and Farewell!

We will plan a location where we can all go for lunch if any are inclined.