Crafting Contemporary Pagan Identities in a Catholic Society

Most studies of contemporary Paganism have been conducted in societies which are predominantly Protestant and increasingly secular. The ways in which Pagan identities are constructed in these contexts have tended to be taken implicitly as normative. This book challenges that position by offering an intimate portrait of Paganism in a very different context, the Mediterranean society of Malta. Showing what it is like being Pagan in a society where the vast majority of the population is Roman Catholic, and Catholicism permeates every sphere of public and domestic, social and political life, Rountree reveals that Paganism here is a unique brew of indigenous and global influences. The book explores the intersections of religious and cultural identity, the global and local, Paganism and Christianity, with insights grounded in rich ethnographic detail based on long-term fieldwork.

Crafting Contemporary Pagan Identities in a Catholic Society