Ethno-pagan Groups’ Web Rhetoric

HUBBES László-Attila, PhD
Sapientia – Hungarian University of Transylvania
Department of Social Sciences

Abstract

Our aim is to perform a comparative study of Romanian and Hungarian neopagan organizations with an ethnocentric or “ethno-pagan” ideology. This complex investigation is an exploratory research aimed at mapping the similarities and the differences between these religious-ideological minorities, with a highlight on their level of institutionalization, their core values and degree of political mobilization. Zalmoxian groups and organizations promote the revival of Romanian spirituality through a process of reconnection to its ancient, supposedly Dacian and Thracian roots; by the same token, Hungarian Shamanist movements are aimed at recovering a supposedly lost spirituality, built in the deepest layers of Hungarian language and cultural practices. A textual web rhetoric analysis of these organizations will be carried out in order to assess audience involvement, communication style and the use of multimedia tools to convey their messages. Also special attention will be given to the visual aspect, since the easiest way of the various sacred stories into modern narratives leads through symbols, mainly purported by visual signs. Thus it is highly important to conduct complex visual discourse-analysis, revealing the function of symbolic iconography in these Neopagan communities.

A full text, draft version of the paper is available from the Social Science Research Network database:
http://ssrn.com/abstract=1863263