Julie Kalil Schutten

Coming out of the Coven: Contemporary Witches, Hidden Populations, and New Social Movements Julie Kalil Schutten

In the hypermediated world of the 21st century, social movements often have different goals, conditions, and rhetorical strategies compared to 20th century movements. By exploring the Neo-Pagan movement, this book critically examines social movement theory in light of the postmodern condition. Witches and other Neo-Pagans illustrate how hidden populations negotiate tensions between private and public spheres. Mainstream media circulate images and narratives of fantasy witches that are conflated with actual Wiccan practices. This blocks ecofeminist aspects of the movement, such as magic as an alternative symbolic that engages nature in dialogue, from surfacing in public arenas. The ways Neo-Pagans appropriate mainstream depictions to further the movement are identified by exploring films, television programs, and museums that portray contemporary witches. Through interviews with witches and participant-observation with a group that holds public Goddess services, this work reconceptualizes resistive practices. The subject matter and theoretical implications of this study should be of particular interest to scholars of social movements, rhetoric, media, spirituality, and ecofeminism.