Paper Title: Researching Irish Neo-Paganism: exploring issues of
ethnographic practice, spiritual experience narrative and religious worldview
Abstract: This paper
deals with both theoretical and methodological issues that arise during the
ethnographic process of researching religion. It focuses on those issues unique
to alternative religion and New Religious Movements, drawing on experience in
the field as part of doctoral research on Irish neo-paganism. Field strategies
are discussed and concerns, such as interpretative schema and researcher
reflexivity, are addressed. It includes an evaluation of the technique of
examining the personal spiritual experience narratives of informants as a means
of gaining insight into "lived experience". It also deals with issues that
relate more generally to the emic and etic dimensions of
ethnography. The discussion also explores the complexities involved in an
ethnographic description of a community's religious worldview and ritual
practice. Also addressed is the problematic nature of balancing the
perspectives of the research community with that of the academic analytical
perspective.