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The Future of Queer

Tasmin Spargo wrote a wonderful little book, back in 1999 tracing the relationship between Michel Foucault’s work and what was then current queer theory. It is an excellent analysis, tracing the positive and negative aspects of Foucault’s work on queer theorists writing at the end of the last century. That, however, was over twenty yearsContinue reading “The Future of Queer”

Looking Back to when Religion was Golden

I am currently wading my way through J. G. Frazer’s multi-volume Golden Bough. I always tell my students about the importance of reading the original text, rather than relying on other people’s summaries or even the popular edited versions. So, I am now in the middle of many different examples of May Kings and MayContinue reading “Looking Back to when Religion was Golden”

Robin and Marion: Reworking Medieval Structures.

While travelling back and forth between Kidderminster and Swansea I listened to a great deal of music and a sizeable proportion of that was medieval music. One CD struck a chord with me and got me thinking. It was a performance of Le Jeu de Robin et de Marion by Adam de la Halle. ThisContinue reading “Robin and Marion: Reworking Medieval Structures.”

Backs to the Wall: Learning from Clause 28

There has been a certain amount of discussion in the higher education press recently about legislation passing through several States across the Atlantic that aims to curtail the teaching of critical race theory or particular approaches to trans-gender issues. The response, at least from those on the left, the so-called ‘woke’ community, is, understandably oneContinue reading “Backs to the Wall: Learning from Clause 28”

Exploring the Idea of Regionalism in Religion

One of the books I read over Christmas was Susan Vogel’s book on the Baule, based on an exhibition at Yale in 1997. It was not so much the art that struck me, or really the ethnographic details of the Baule, although that did illuminate certain elements of our visit to Ivory Coast back inContinue reading “Exploring the Idea of Regionalism in Religion”

Histories and Futures: A Reflection on the Generations

A new year, a new future. One of the things that struck me most forcefully in 2022 was the thought of my father’s age. On March 7th, 2022, he would have been 95. That is terrifying in so many ways. My father was the youngest of six children, the only boy after five daughters. HisContinue reading “Histories and Futures: A Reflection on the Generations”

A Sociology of the Story in the Study of Religion

My next writing project is to be a book on ‘myth’. This is part of the wider project to produce a ‘general theory of religion’ that I have been working on since the mid-nineteen-nineties. The overall structure of the project has hardly changed at all, the details of the individual elements continue to develop. AtContinue reading “A Sociology of the Story in the Study of Religion”

Being in the Top One Hundred: and why I will never get there.

Last week I attended what I think was my first live dance event since the end of COVID. It was a performance by the 2 Faced Dance Company at the Taliesin Arts Centre in Swansea. The three pieces were very different, and the final item, Reduxed, which is noted as the companies most successful workContinue reading “Being in the Top One Hundred: and why I will never get there.”

I am Approaching Sixty: Thinking about the Creative in Myself.

I am currently reading two rather bizarre and somewhat eccentric travel books (and yes, I always end up reading more than one book at any one time, it comes with living in two different places). The first is Rose Macaulay’s Towers of Trebizond. The opening sentence, with its reference to both high mass and camels,Continue reading “I am Approaching Sixty: Thinking about the Creative in Myself.”

Playing with the Big Boys (and Girls)

Last week in the Life Scientific on Radio 4, the interviewee spoke of his early career following troops of chimpanzees in Uganda. He was particularly struck by one young male, who was named Jingo. This chimp was not particularly large, but he was fast, and he played a particular role in the hunting parties ofContinue reading “Playing with the Big Boys (and Girls)”