Sacred sites, contested rites/rights: contemporary pagan engagements with the past

BLAIN, J. and WALLIS, R. J. (2004). Sacred sites, contested rites/rights: contemporary pagan engagements with the past. Journal of material culture, 9 (3), 237-261.

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Abstract

Our Sacred Sites, Contested Rites/Rights project (www.sacredsites.org.uk) examines physical, spiritual and interpretative engagements of today’s Pagans with sacred sites, theorises ‘sacredness’, and explores the implications of pagan engagements with sites for heritage management and archaeology more generally, in terms of ‘preservation ethic’ vis a vis active engagement. In this paper, we explore ways in which ‘sacred sites’ --- both the term and the sites --- are negotiated by different interest groups, foregrounding our locations, as an archaeologist/art historian (Wallis) and anthropologist (Blain), and active pagan engagers with sites. Examples of pagan actions at such sites, including at Avebury and Stonehenge, demonstrate not only that their engagements with sacred sites are diverse and that identities --- such as that of ‘new indigenes’ --- arising therefrom are complex, but also that heritage management has not entirely neglected the issues: in addition to managed open access solstice celebrations at Stonehenge, a climate of inclusivity and multivocality has resulted in fruitful negotiations at the Rollright Stones.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Copyright © 2004 by SAGE Publications
Research Institute, Centre or Group - Does NOT include content added after October 2018:	Sociology, Politics and Policy Research Group
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1177/1359183504046893
Page Range:	237-261
Depositing User:	Ann Betterton
Date Deposited:	18 Dec 2008
Last Modified:	18 Mar 2021 13:51
URI:	https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/58

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