Community Roundup: October 2019

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Art: Rim Bitik for Mimisbrunnr.info, 2019.

Mimisbrunnr.info began as a news service focused on happenings in ancient Germanic studies. Since then, a community of fellow travelers in the field has sprung up. In an effort to draw more attention to the excellent work of these talented individuals and in a nod to the site’s origins, Mimisbrunnr.info launches its monthly roundup, in which we highlight activities in overlapping and associated projects.

  1. Jennifer Snook

  2. Fair Folk Podcast

  3. Folklore & Fiction

  4. Nordic Animism

  5. Nordic Mythology Channel & Podcast


    1. Jennifer Snook

Jennifer Snook, Senior Lecturer of Sociology at Grinnell College, is conducting a survey focused on modern Germanic heathenry. Snook has researched contemporary Heathenry since 2004, inquiring about about how larger cultural and historical changes influence how individuals and communities “do” Heathenry. About her latest effort, Snook writes:

Since the 1970s, Heathenry has been subject to political in-fighting and external judgement. This polarization has only grown more severe in the last few years. With Heathenry increasingly in the news, Heathen communities around the world are actively weaving their place within this narrative. Journalists and academics have contacted me over the past few years with questions about Heathen politics and the hand of Heathens in acts of extremism, attempting to paint some picture for the public about what we Heathen weirdos are up to now. I fear what each story will do to further damage our reputations. I try to answer as best I can, but without hard data, I am (at best) generalizing from a limited picture that is quickly becoming less relevant.

I need to know - how many Heathens identify as far-right / far-left? What kinds of political engagement are Heathens involved in, and how do we compare to the average publics? I also wondered - how often do we hang out with one another, and how many of us believe in the literal existence of the gods? What kinds of hobbies do we do, and what do our social networks look like? What kinds of jobs do we do and what influences have been most important to our Heathen identities? Years ago I wrote a book about American Heathenry. I learned a lot from that process and its outcome – some life lessons and some things I’d do differently. I would like to follow up with an update. I need the help of each Heathen (or formerly Heathen person) to provide the pieces, and to help map what Heathenry really looks like, who we are, and what we believe. To gather this data, I’ve included a survey as part of this ongoing project, a sort of a Heathen “census.” Each one of us is an important voice. The survey itself takes about twenty minutes. As of Oct 14, it has 1000 responses – a lot, but not enough to fully capture the complexities of Heathenry on a large scale. Other surveys of Heathenry have captured over 3000 voices – I hope to do the same.

This instrument is just one data collection strategy of many, including in-depth interviews, participant observation, and media analysis. No survey can fully capture the diversity of every person’s experience. It can only capture just a small slice of our world -- hopefully you see some of yourself reflected here. Once data analysis begins, I’ll share some of the results. If you have questions, you can also reach me at snookjen@grinnell.edu.

(This survey was developed with the help of the Data Analysis and Social Inquiry (DASIL) lab at Grinnell College.)

 

2. FAIR FOLK PODCAST (DANICA BOYCE)

Danica Boyce’s Fair Folk Podcast released an episode focused on Halloween topics:

 

3. Folklore & Fiction
(Ceallaigh S. MacCath-Moran)

Ceallaigh S. MacCath-Moran (Memorial University of Newfoundland) has released an archive of her Folklore & Fiction folklore archive memes:

 

4. Nordic Animism
(Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen)

Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen (University of Uppsala) released the 2020 Nordic Animism Calendar, which readers can find more information about the calendar here. Additionally, Rasmussen released a video on the Nordic Animism podcast: