Recent events like the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting and the detention of immigrants in squalid conditions illustrate the danger that arises from the perception and labeling of particular religious or ethnic groups as undesirable Others. Recent European hostility to immigrants focuses on Muslims but coincides with rising animosity toward Roma and Jews. Hostility toward these groups has often turned on the idea that they are “un-Christian,” that they are “Pagans.” The theme of the Other as an alternately demonized and exoticized social group has been a topic of much discussion in anthropology and postcolonial studies since Edward Said’s Orientalism and Gayatri Spivak’s essay “Who Will Speak for the Subaltern?,” with earlier roots in the work of Antonio Gramsci and others.
The unwanted Others in Europe are often interchangeable, with the same negative traits assigned now to one group, now another, demonstrating that the root issue is not any particular enemy ethnicity or religion, but the desire to have an enemy for social and political purposes. I investigate how four such “Others” in Europe, namely Roma (aka Gypsies), Pagans (followers of pre-Christian religions), Jews and Muslims often play interchangeable roles in European social discourse and identity formation.The discussion of the Roma draws on such scholars as Ian Hancock, Michael Stewart and Yaron Matras. The examination of Pagans utilizes scholars such as Scott Simpson, Kaarina Aitamurto, and Michael York, and my own work. The investigation of Muslims consults H. A. Hellyer and Egdunas Racius. The exploration of the Othering of Jews engages with Leon Poliakov, Schlomo Sand, and Dovid Katz.
Looking at representations of these groups across the centuries from medieval chronicles to modern pop culture and political discourse, this paper will show how this dangerous hall of mirrors has functioned in the past and continues to operate in our time.
About the presenterMichael Strmiska
I am an Assistant Professor in World History at SUNY-Orange (Orange County Community College) in Middletown, New York. In Fall of 2015 I was a visiting professor at Masaryk University in the Czech Republic, teaching courses on Neo-Paganism and New Religious Movements and European Mythology. My PhD is in Religious Studies from Boston University. My research projects include modern Pagan religious movements (Neo-Paganism) in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, and America, and minority religions in Eastern Europe.