Robert J Wallis
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 447716 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Robert J Wallis |
| NOMBRES | Robert J |
| APELLIDO | Wallis |
| FIRMA | WALLIS R J |
| AFILIACIONES | Richmond, The American International University in London |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4058-1922 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 43 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 161 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 43 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 1998 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2025 |
| ÍNDICE H | 7 |
Faith, folk and the far right
Introduction to the Special Issue Art, Shamanism and Animism
Art, shamanism and animism are mutable, contested terms which, when brought together, present a highly charged package
The Viking way
The Viking Way was first published in 2002, setting a new benchmark for work on Viking magic (seiðr) and religion. It quickly went out of print but not before prompting a burgeoning scholarship. Th
The ‘Northwest Essex Anglo-Saxon Ring’, Falconry and Pagan–Christian Discursive Space
A unique gold finger ring, dated stylistically toc.ad580–650, was discovered by metal-detecting in Essex in 2011. The ‘northwest Essex Anglo-Saxon ring’ is highly decorated with Style II art and shows a distinctive juxtaposition of ‘pagan’ and ‘Christian’ imagery including birds of prey and an anthropomorphic figure holding a long cross in the right hand, a raptor in the left. In this article, I consider the possibility that the object provides f…
Art and Shamanism
Art and shamanism are often represented as timeless, universal features of human experience, with an apparently immutable relationship. Shamanism is frequently held to represent the origin of religion and shamans are characterized as the first artists, leaving their infamous mark in the cave art of Upper Palaeolithic Europe. Despite a disconnect of several millennia, modern artists too, from Wassily Kandinsky and Vincent van Gogh, to Joseph Beuys…
Trude Fonneland, Contemporary Shamanisms in Norway
Trude Fonneland, Contemporary Shamanisms in Norway: Religion, Entrepreneurship, and Politics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017), 248pp., $99 (hardcover), $97.99 (ebook)
As the Falcon Her Bells’ at Sutton Hoo? Falconry in Early Anglo-Saxon England
As the ox hath his bow, sir, the horse his curb, and the falcon her bells, so man hath his desires.Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act 3, Scene 3This article re-examines the earliest evidence for falconry in England, comprising the faunal remains of raptors and their quarry, Style II animal art which shows a preponderance of predatory birds including hawk-with-prey motifs, and small copper-alloy bells which may have functioned as falconry equipment.…
Paganism, Archaeology and Folklore in Twenty-first Century Britain
Previous scholarship on Paganism and archaeology has considered Pagan engagements with prehistoric ‘sacred sites’ as ‘new folklore’, examining how Pagan meanings are inscribed and constituted. Earlier work has also highlighted the importance of respect, dialogue and working together, to promote understanding and resolve tensions between Pagans and archaeologists. But antagonism endures: the ‘Avebury Consultation’ on reburial, for instance, result…
Re-examining stone 'wrist-guards' as evidence for falconry in later prehistoric Britain
The polished stone objects known as 'wrist-guards' found in Early Bronze Age graves in Britain and Continental Europe have proved difficult to interpret. Are they connected with archery, as has long been supposed, or were they instead associated with falconry? Using trained birds of prey for hunting is an elite practice in many historical and ethnographic contexts, and would be consistent with the appearance of exotic materials in these graves. D…
Tomášková, Silvia
Anthropos , Seite 344 - 345
Animism and the Interpretation of Rock Art
(2013). Animism and the Interpretation of Rock Art. Time and Mind: Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 21-28
Bouncing on a huge inflatable Stonehenge
Sacrilege, a life-size inflatable Stonehenge by Jeremy Deller, toured Britain from 21 June to 9 September as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Bouncing on the artwork-cum-plaything provided an immediate, sensory and visceral experience which was meaningful in relation to the real Stonehenge. This paper addresses how playing with a hyperreal Stonehenge comments seriously on heritage management and ‘the visitor experience’ at the World Her…
Warfare and Shamanism in Amazonia
Signals of Belief in Early England
From Respect to Reburial
The recent Avebury Consultation on reburial has drawn considerable public and professional attention to the issue of pagan calls for respect regarding the care of human remains. Our work has pointed to the importance of archaeologists and others engaging seriously and respectfully with pagans as significant stakeholders in our heritage. The Avebury Reburial Consultation suggests this dialogue is increasing in strength, but we identify problems in…
An Introduction to Shamanism
Cult in Context
From Asgard to Valhalla
(2010). From Asgard to Valhalla: The Remarkable History of the Norse Myths. Time and Mind: Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 115-117
Re-enchanting Rock Art Landscapes
Recent theorizing of animism as a relational epistemology evinces how many indigenous communities perceive landscapes as alive with "'people," only some of whom are human, and that these agents are perceived to exist prior to human engagement. Shrines, temples, groves, and other "sacred" sites in the landscape, including some rock-art sites, may not mark places of cultural inscription per se (culture is of course instantiated at such sites, but n…
Inside the Neolithic Mind
(2009). Inside the Neolithic Mind: Consciousness, Cosmos and the Realm of the Gods. Time and Mind: Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 115-118
Do Glaciers Listen
(2009). Do Glaciers Listen?: Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters and Social Imagination. Time and Mind: Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 93-97
Beyond Sacred
Over the last decade, our Sacred Sites project has examined contemporary British Pagan engagements with pasts, focusing on archaeological monuments and associated material culture held in museum collections. Increasingly Pagans are taking issue with problems of disenchantment and reenchantment, opposing landscape exploitation, often equating their (contested) relationships to place and pasts to those of indigenous peoples elsewhere. We present fi…
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is an ‘icon of Britishness’ (Bender 1998) and as befits this most famous of national monuments, there has been a long history of archaeological investigation complemented by an extensive
The rock art landscapes of Rombalds Moor, West Yorkshire
Relational identities and other-than-human agency in archaeology
Shamans/Neo-Shamans
Sacred Sites, Contested Rites/ Rights
Our Sacred Sites, Contested Rites/Rights project (www.sacredsites.org.uk) examines physical, spiritual and interpretative engagements of today's pagans with sacred sites, theorizes 'sacredness', and explores the implications of pagan engagements with sites for heritage management and archaeology more generally, in terms of 'preservation ethic' vis-a-vis active engagement. In this article, we explore ways in which 'sacred sites' - both the term an…
Sites, sacredness, and stories
Folklore has, until very recently, been at the fringes of archaeological research. Post-processual archaeology has promoted plurality in interpretation, however, and archaeology more widely is required to make itself relevant to contemporary society; so, contemporary folkloric practices vis--vis archaeological remains are once again receiving attention. In this paper we examine contemporary Pagan understandings of and engagements with 'sacred sit…
Altered States, Conflicting Cultures
In anthropology, archaeology and popular culture, Shamanism may be one of the most used, abused and misunderstood terms, to date. Researchers are increasingly recognizing the socio-political roles of altered states of consciousness and shamanism in past and present societies, yet the rise of Neo-shamanism and its implications for academics and their subjects of study are consistently neglected. Moreover, many academics marginalize "neo-shamans," …
Queer shamans
Neo-shamanism is a largely unexplored spiritual practice among Western peoples that, by virtue of its queerness, has pressing implications for archaeologists. In their practices, Druidic neo-shamans increasingly make pilgrimages to ancient sites and express strong views on the socio-politics of their presentation and management. Rather than avoid the 'fringe' and dismiss these engagements with archaeology outright, as a normative archaeology tend…
The 'Ergi' Seidman
Seidr' is a term used in this paper to describe certain 'shamanistic' practices of Northern Europe, mentioned in the Icelandic Sagas. Today, seidr practices are reappearing as 'neo-shamanism' in areas of Europe and North America. Both today and in the past, seidr is often thought of as 'women's magic', although it is also practised by men. In this article, seidr and other 'shamanisms' are viewed as dynamic, specific practices framed by community …
The bwili or ‘flying tricksters’ of Malakula
The use of ‘shamanism’ and/or neuropsychology in the interpretation of rock art imagery has been much contested, with opinions often polarized between so–called ‘shamaniacs’ and ‘shamanophobes’ who support or oppose these lines of enquiry, respectively. Ethnographic analyses have, arguably, suffered most in this controversy. In this article I explore Layard’s ethnography of the bwili or ‘flying tricksters’ of Malakula, Melanesia, to interpret roc…
Art and Shamanism
Art and shamanism are often represented as timeless, universal features of human experience, with an apparently immutable relationship. Shamanism is frequently held to represent the origin of religion and shamans are characterized as the first artists, leaving their infamous mark in the cave art of Upper Palaeolithic Europe. Despite a disconnect of several millennia, modern artists too, from Wassily Kandinsky and Vincent van Gogh, to Joseph Beuys…
Pasts and pagan practices
Theorizing the past is not restricted to archaeology and interpretations of 'past' both influence and are themselves constituted within politicized understandings of self, community and in certain instances, spirituality. 'The past in the imagination of the present' is appropriated, variously, to give meaning to the present or to justify actions and interpret experiences. Summer solstice at Stonehenge, with an estimated 21,000 celebrants in 2005,…
Shamans/Neo-Shamans
Warfare and Shamanism in Amazonia
As the Falcon Her Bells’ at Sutton Hoo? Falconry in Early Anglo-Saxon England
As the ox hath his bow, sir, the horse his curb, and the falcon her bells, so man hath his desires.Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act 3, Scene 3This article re-examines the earliest evidence for falconry in England, comprising the faunal remains of raptors and their quarry, Style II animal art which shows a preponderance of predatory birds including hawk-with-prey motifs, and small copper-alloy bells which may have functioned as falconry equipment.…
Sites, Texts, Contexts and Inscriptions of Meaning
Questions of texts and ‘scripture ’ sit uneasily with Paganisms. Most Pagans do not have ‘sacred scriptures ’ and point to different constructions of spirituality that do not privilege conventional ‘texts’. Further, popular or political perceptions that a ‘religion ’ should or must have ‘sacred texts ’ can become a means of denying various Paganisms—or indeed some indigenous spiritualities elsewhere—the official stamp of authenticity being ‘a rel…
Relational identities and other-than-human agency in archaeology
Introduction to the Special Issue Art, Shamanism and Animism
Art, shamanism and animism are mutable, contested terms which, when brought together, present a highly charged package
The ‘Northwest Essex Anglo-Saxon Ring’, Falconry and Pagan–Christian Discursive Space
A unique gold finger ring, dated stylistically toc.ad580–650, was discovered by metal-detecting in Essex in 2011. The ‘northwest Essex Anglo-Saxon ring’ is highly decorated with Style II art and shows a distinctive juxtaposition of ‘pagan’ and ‘Christian’ imagery including birds of prey and an anthropomorphic figure holding a long cross in the right hand, a raptor in the left. In this article, I consider the possibility that the object provides f…
Re-examining stone 'wrist-guards' as evidence for falconry in later prehistoric Britain
The polished stone objects known as 'wrist-guards' found in Early Bronze Age graves in Britain and Continental Europe have proved difficult to interpret. Are they connected with archery, as has long been supposed, or were they instead associated with falconry? Using trained birds of prey for hunting is an elite practice in many historical and ethnographic contexts, and would be consistent with the appearance of exotic materials in these graves. D…
From Respect to Reburial
The recent Avebury Consultation on reburial has drawn considerable public and professional attention to the issue of pagan calls for respect regarding the care of human remains. Our work has pointed to the importance of archaeologists and others engaging seriously and respectfully with pagans as significant stakeholders in our heritage. The Avebury Reburial Consultation suggests this dialogue is increasing in strength, but we identify problems in…
An Introduction to Shamanism
From Asgard to Valhalla
(2010). From Asgard to Valhalla: The Remarkable History of the Norse Myths. Time and Mind: Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 115-117
Beyond Sacred
Over the last decade, our Sacred Sites project has examined contemporary British Pagan engagements with pasts, focusing on archaeological monuments and associated material culture held in museum collections. Increasingly Pagans are taking issue with problems of disenchantment and reenchantment, opposing landscape exploitation, often equating their (contested) relationships to place and pasts to those of indigenous peoples elsewhere. We present fi…
Theorizing Religions Past
(2009). Theorizing Religions Past: Archaeology, History, and Cognition. Time and Mind: Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 363-365
Pasts and pagan practices
Theorizing the past is not restricted to archaeology, and interpretations of 'past'both influence and are themselves constituted within politicized understandings of self, community and, in certain instances, spirituality. 'The past in the imagination of the present' is appropriated, variously, to give meaning to the present or to justify actions and interpret experiences. Summer solstice at Stonehenge, with an estimated 21,000 celebrants in 2005…
Journeying the Politics of Ecstasy
In anthropology, archaeology and popular culture, ‘Shamanism’ may be one of the most used, abused and misunderstood terms to date. Researchers are increasingly recognising the socio-political roles of altered states of consciousness and shamanism in past and present societies, yet the rise of ‘Neoshamanism’ and its implications for academics and their subjects of study is consistently neglected
Men and ‘Women’s Magic’
Seidhr appears most often as a female activity... male seidh workers were spoken of as 'ergi', a term of insult relating to behaviour seen as 'unmanly
Altered States, Conflicting Cultures
In anthropology, archaeology and popular culture, Shamanism may be one of the most used, abused and misunderstood terms, to date. Researchers are increasingly recognizing the socio-political roles of altered states of consciousness and shamanism in past and present societies, yet the rise of Neo-shamanism and its implications for academics and their subjects of study are consistently neglected. Moreover, many academics marginalize "neo-shamans," …
The 'Ergi' Seidman
Seidr' is a term used in this paper to describe certain 'shamanistic' practices of Northern Europe, mentioned in the Icelandic Sagas. Today, seidr practices are reappearing as 'neo-shamanism' in areas of Europe and North America. Both today and in the past, seidr is often thought of as 'women's magic', although it is also practised by men. In this article, seidr and other 'shamanisms' are viewed as dynamic, specific practices framed by community …
Queer shamans
Neo-shamanism is a largely unexplored spiritual practice among Western peoples that, by virtue of its queerness, has pressing implications for archaeologists. In their practices, Druidic neo-shamans increasingly make pilgrimages to ancient sites and express strong views on the socio-politics of their presentation and management. Rather than avoid the 'fringe' and dismiss these engagements with archaeology outright, as a normative archaeology tend…
The bwili or ‘flying tricksters’ of Malakula
The use of ‘shamanism’ and/or neuropsychology in the interpretation of rock art imagery has been much contested, with opinions often polarized between so–called ‘shamaniacs’ and ‘shamanophobes’ who support or oppose these lines of enquiry, respectively. Ethnographic analyses have, arguably, suffered most in this controversy. In this article I explore Layard’s ethnography of the bwili or ‘flying tricksters’ of Malakula, Melanesia, to interpret roc…
Sites, sacredness, and stories
Folklore has, until very recently, been at the fringes of archaeological research. Post-processual archaeology has promoted plurality in interpretation, however, and archaeology more widely is required to make itself relevant to contemporary society; so, contemporary folkloric practices vis--vis archaeological remains are once again receiving attention. In this paper we examine contemporary Pagan understandings of and engagements with 'sacred sit…
Shamans/Neo-Shamans
Sites, Texts, Contexts and Inscriptions of Meaning
Questions of texts and ‘scripture ’ sit uneasily with Paganisms. Most Pagans do not have ‘sacred scriptures ’ and point to different constructions of spirituality that do not privilege conventional ‘texts’. Further, popular or political perceptions that a ‘religion ’ should or must have ‘sacred texts ’ can become a means of denying various Paganisms—or indeed some indigenous spiritualities elsewhere—the official stamp of authenticity being ‘a rel…
Sacred Sites, Contested Rites/ Rights
Our Sacred Sites, Contested Rites/Rights project (www.sacredsites.org.uk) examines physical, spiritual and interpretative engagements of today's pagans with sacred sites, theorizes 'sacredness', and explores the implications of pagan engagements with sites for heritage management and archaeology more generally, in terms of 'preservation ethic' vis-a-vis active engagement. In this article, we explore ways in which 'sacred sites' - both the term an…
Shamans/Neo-Shamans
Shamans/Neo-Shamans
Representing Spirit
Pasts and pagan practices
Theorizing the past is not restricted to archaeology, and interpretations of 'past'both influence and are themselves constituted within politicized understandings of self, community and, in certain instances, spirituality. 'The past in the imagination of the present' is appropriated, variously, to give meaning to the present or to justify actions and interpret experiences. Summer solstice at Stonehenge, with an estimated 21,000 celebrants in 2005…
Pasts and pagan practices
Theorizing the past is not restricted to archaeology and interpretations of 'past' both influence and are themselves constituted within politicized understandings of self, community and in certain instances, spirituality. 'The past in the imagination of the present' is appropriated, variously, to give meaning to the present or to justify actions and interpret experiences. Summer solstice at Stonehenge, with an estimated 21,000 celebrants in 2005,…
Sites, Texts, Contexts and Inscriptions of Meaning
Questions of texts and ‘scripture’ sit uneasily with Paganisms. Most Pagans do not have ‘sacred scriptures’ and point to different constructions of spirituality that do not privilege conventional ‘texts’. Further, popular or political perceptions that a ‘religion’ should or must have ‘sacred texts’ can become a means of denying various Paganisms—or indeed some indigenous spiritualities elsewhere—the official stamp of authenticity being ‘a religio…
Graham Harvey, Animism
Graham Harvey, Animism: Respecting the Living World (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005), 262 pp., $69.50 (cloth), $28.50 (paperback)
Re-enchanting Rock Art Landscapes
Recent theorizing of animism as a relational epistemology evinces how many indigenous communities perceive landscapes as alive with "'people," only some of whom are human, and that these agents are perceived to exist prior to human engagement. Shrines, temples, groves, and other "sacred" sites in the landscape, including some rock-art sites, may not mark places of cultural inscription per se (culture is of course instantiated at such sites, but n…
Inside the Neolithic Mind
(2009). Inside the Neolithic Mind: Consciousness, Cosmos and the Realm of the Gods. Time and Mind: Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 115-118
Do Glaciers Listen
(2009). Do Glaciers Listen?: Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters and Social Imagination. Time and Mind: Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 93-97
Beyond Sacred
Over the last decade, our Sacred Sites project has examined contemporary British Pagan engagements with pasts, focusing on archaeological monuments and associated material culture held in museum collections. Increasingly Pagans are taking issue with problems of disenchantment and reenchantment, opposing landscape exploitation, often equating their (contested) relationships to place and pasts to those of indigenous peoples elsewhere. We present fi…
Theorizing Religions Past
(2009). Theorizing Religions Past: Archaeology, History, and Cognition. Time and Mind: Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 363-365
Cult in Context
From Asgard to Valhalla
(2010). From Asgard to Valhalla: The Remarkable History of the Norse Myths. Time and Mind: Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 115-117
From Respect to Reburial
The recent Avebury Consultation on reburial has drawn considerable public and professional attention to the issue of pagan calls for respect regarding the care of human remains. Our work has pointed to the importance of archaeologists and others engaging seriously and respectfully with pagans as significant stakeholders in our heritage. The Avebury Reburial Consultation suggests this dialogue is increasing in strength, but we identify problems in…
History (37 obras) · Archaeology (32 obras) · History (29 obras) · Sociology (28 obras) · Philosophy (22 obras) · Anthropology (21 obras) · Art (20 obras) · Anthropological Studies and Insights (16 obras) · Philosophy (15 obras) · Epistemology (12 obras)