Indigenizing Movements in Europe - Graham Harvey
Is Druidry Indigenous? The Politics of Pagan Indigeneity Discourse
Indigenizing Movements in Europe - Graham Harvey
Suzanne Owen [+]
Leeds Trinity University
Description
This chapter will begin by asking if ‘indigenous’, associated as it is with ‘colonised peoples’, is being employed strategically by Druids in Britain to support cultural or political aims. Prominent Druids make various claims to indigeneity, presenting Druidry as the pre-Christian religion of the British Isles and that it originated there. By 'religion' it also assumes it was a culture equal to if not superior to Christianity - similar to views of antiquarians in earlier centuries who idealised a pre-Christian culture equal to ancient Greece. Although British Druids refute the nationalist tag, and make efforts to root out those tendencies, it can be argued that it is a love of the land rather than the country per se that drives indigeneity discourses in British Druidry.