Hello Symposiasts! I’m Dr Angela Puca a Religious Studies PhD I had the pleasure to go to the University of Trento in Italy for the Ethnography and Qualitative Research Conference and I absolutely want to share my research paper with you. It was on Netnography in the Study of Contemporary Paganism. Netnography is the online version of ethnography which is a research technique that aims to study culture, beliefs and human behaviour.

So I will leave you to my paper then and I look forward to reading your comments.

Bye for now.

Good afternoon or evening; we are approaching the evening side – esteemed colleagues and friends, as we said earlier.

So it’s an honour for me to present to you today at the Ethnography and Qualitative Research Conference at the University of Trento, and my research paper is titled “Using Netnography to Research Contemporary Paganism.” It aims to delve into the intersection of

contemporary ethnographic methods – particularly the intersection between the study of paganism, the use of netnography, and the use of ethnography because we will see that both are essential and complementary to each other.

So, to set the stage, it’s important to acknowledge the rapidly changing landscape of how people communicate, share information, and form communities in the 21st century because, obviously in the past century, many things have changed. How people communicate has also changed, and we use the internet and social media more to interact.

The internet has become a crucial space for many religious communities, including pagans, to network, exchange ideas, conduct rituals, and foster their identities. And as researchers this offers us new terrains for investigation and necessitates achievement in our methodological tools.

At its heart, my paper aims to answer how netnography, the online equivalent of ethnography, can contribute to our understanding of contemporary paganism? And what are its advantages, limitations and also the ethical considerations? Because there is also that that needs to be taken into account. While netnography is promising and it’s a promising approach that yields valuable insights, it’s not a panacea. Therefore this presentation also explores how netnography can be complemented by traditional ethnography. A core methodology in our discipline to enhance our research with that richness and authenticity. So my theoretical underpinning draws from Kozinets’ pioneering work on netnography and Hine’s flexible and adaptive ethnography – underlining that the ‘field’ in fieldwork is now both online and offline. I argue for a holistic, integrative approach that respects the rich complexity of contemporary paganism and the socio-digital context in which it exists, and the study of paganism offers a perfect case study for this kind of research as a largely decentralized and diverse religious movement online and offline networking is crucial for pagans because you’re not really going to find pagans in your neighbourhood. It’s much, you know, much less likely compared to other, more known and spread forms of religion and also institutionalized forms of religions where you can find your local church nearby. With paganism is a bit different and the kind of delocalization and deinstitutionalization allows for the internet to be a very fertile terrain because people can interact with people at a wide distance based on common interests rather than vicinity.

So contemporary paganism also offers a fascinating lens to explore broader themes such as the relationship between religion, identity and the internet. So today, I invite you to journey with me as we navigate this exciting intersection of netnography, ethnography, and contemporary paganism, and this presentation will proceed in the following order:

Firstly, we will explore an overview of paganism and networking. Then, we will dive into the worlds of netnography and ethnography before discussing the advantages, limitations, and ethical considerations of netnography in studying paganism.

And finally, we will examine a survey I conducted last month in May 2023 that has collected almost 700 responses so far. So, I look forward to sharing this research with you, and of course, I welcome your thoughts and questions, and reflections along the way or afterward.

So, Paganism is often referred to as neopaganism or contemporary paganism. The latter seems to be preferred nowadays by contemporary scholars in Pagan Studies and represents a diverse and eclectic religious movement that has seen a resurgence in recent decades and even a birth in recent decades. But there has been a resurgence. It is rooted in the reverence for nature, with many pagans identifying as polytheistic, pantheistic, or animistic. However, this movement has a significant variance in beliefs and practices, making it an especially fascinating subject for ethnographic research. One of the defining features of paganism is its decentralized and individualized nature. Or I could say individually tailored nature, meaning that every single individual, every single pagan, makes of paganism what they want, what they like.

So, it is individually tailored – that’s a term I also use in my PhD research. There are few standardized if any, doctrines or hierarchical religious authorities. Instead, practitioners often customized their spiritual path based on personal preferences and diverse influences from ancient polytheistic traditions to modern ecological and feminist ideologies. That’s also quite prevalent among certain groups of pagans.

As such, networking becomes crucial for contemporary paganism; it is the primary way they exchange ideas, learn about rituals, debate ethical dilemmas, or share their experiences. These occur offline, at events like festivals or in local covens or groups, and online, on various social media platforms, forums, blogs, and virtual ritual spaces. This dual reality shapes their community identity, the spread of practices, and the evolution of beliefs within the movement.

In recent years, we’ve seen a shift towards increased online networking among pagans due to the accessibility of the internet, privacy considerations, and the global events of the pandemic that has affected us all, and consequently, these online spaces have become vital congregating points for pagans and represent a rich resource for researchers. However, studying these online communities presents unique challenges and opportunities and therefore necessitates innovative methodological approaches like netnography.

So now let’s move on to talk more about netnography and I’m presenting here, you know, two foundational scholars in my theoretical framework. And Kozinets is the one who coined the term netnography. So ethnography, as we know, is kind of the cornerstone of qualitative research – that’s perhaps why the conference is named Ethnography and Qualitative Research because it’s quite a core research method and has long been celebrated for its capacity to provide an in-depth, nuanced understanding of social and cultural phenomena. Its strength lies in its ability to explore contexts, delve into a complex web of meanings, and comprehend the lived experiences of individuals and communities.

However, in the digital age, new methodological adaptations have emerged. One of these is netnography, which is a term, as I mentioned, coined by Robert Kozinets, which adapts ethnographic research techniques to study online cultures and communities. Netnography, therefore, examines the interactions and narratives on digital platforms, recognizing the internet as a legitimate and important social space that sometimes has been forgotten. At least in my experience, researchers have challenged the sheer fact that I was using the web as part of my fieldwork. My first research paper emphasizes the importance of incorporating netnographic methods in the study of contemporary paganism. Given the increased use of digital platforms for networking among pagans, understanding these online spaces is crucial for an accurate and comprehensive understanding of this religious movement.

Now, let’s move on to the advantages, limitations, and ethical considerations we find with ethnography.

So as we said, netnography offers several distinct advantages in studying contemporary paganism. it allows us to access a wide range of digital communities, cutting across geographical boundaries. It provides insights into online rituals and discussions that might be inaccessible otherwise due to privacy or geographical limitations. Netnography lets us observe naturalistic data in real time and understand the interplay between online and offline religious identities.

However, netnography is not without its limitations. For instance, you have physical rituals and a connection with nature. It’s also important to highlight that these are essential aspects of the Pagan practice. So, the in-person community interactions that are an integral part of paganism may be quite challenging, if not impossible, to capture online. Moreover, netnography brings unique ethical considerations to the fore; ensuring informed consent, respective privacy, and maintaining the integrity of online communities are paramount but often more complex in the digital realm.

So, how do we get informed consent when studying data that is naturally occurring and in the public domain on the internet? That’s quite challenging. It is a challenge for scholars, I would say. Ethnographers must navigate these issues conscientiously and abide by the Association of Internet Researchers’ guidelines – that’s a good way to start if a researcher is starting to work with netnography and is wondering how to assess the ethical considerations that might play a role in that.

So now, let’s see how to study paganism through netnography. Netnograhic Research into paganism might manifest in various ways, given the diversity of online spaces. Pagans, basically, are engaging with these online platforms quite often, we will see in the survey how often. So what is it that we can capture via netnography? So, we can capture online rituals, for instance. Some pagans perform rituals online, especially when geographical distance or lockdowns prevent physical gatherings. Netnographic study might observe these rituals, paying attention to how they are adapted to the digital realm.

So, how do practitioners create a sacred space online? And how do they convey spiritual meaning through text images, emojis, or videos? For example, a researcher could examine how a group performs a full moon ritual on a social media platform, analyzing the symbolism, interactions, and digital adaptation.

Then, we have the discussion forums. Websites like The Witches Voice or the Pagan section of Reddit are bustling with discussions about everything, from spellwork to philosophy. An netnographic study might analyze these conversations, exploring things like ethical dilemmas, interpretations of secret texts, or sharing personal experiences. The researcher could look at how pagans negotiate their beliefs, help each other interpret dreams or omens, or share experiences of discrimination, for instance.

Then we have the virtual covens. Some pagans form online groups that function like traditional covents with regular meetings, shared rituals, and a sense of community. A netnographic study could explore these digital covents, understanding their structural dynamics and their meaning for participants. For example, how does an online coven support its members? How does it negotiate issues of trust and intimacy in the digital space? These are all important questions and netnography can help us find the answers.

Then we have social media. You can see here how big the community on TikTok is. The #PaganTok or #NorsePaganTok, the #WitchTok is quite famous. So, the #WitchesOfTikTok as well. So they have billions and millions of views, and there are many people who participate in these conversations and the discourse that is created on these social media platforms – I think now there’s a lot of buzz around the #WitchesOfTikTok, but I would say that this also applies to other social media. You also have the hashtag #WitchesOfInstagram or #PagansOfInstagram they create their own communities. So, to disregard these communities and the discourses that happen within these communities is just missing a big chunk of the picture of what paganism is. It’s not the full picture, as I will say and I will argue but it is an essential part of it that we need to understand as scholars, I would argue.

So also you have online courses and webinars. Because some pagans and pagan organizations offer online courses and webinars on topics like Wicca 101, divination techniques, or herbal magic. A netnographic study could analyze these educational spaces, examining what is taught, how it’s taught, and the interactions between teachers and students.

Each of these examples could require careful and need, actually, careful ethical considerations, including informed consent and anonymization of data because there are some people who interact online – there are some figures that interact online because perhaps they live in spaces, geographical spaces, or families that wouldn’t really allow them to be pagans. They would really incur heavy discrimination because of that. So, they must protect themselves, and scholars must be cognizant of that. But I think the scholars, in my experience, tend to be extremely conscientious when it comes to these kinds of matters. So it’s important to remember that netnography provides just one piece of the puzzle and would ideally be combined with traditional ethnographic methods to capture a fuller picture of pagan lives.

So now let’s talk about the disadvantages of netnography and whether the data is reliable because that’s one of the things that is often challenged by Reviewer Two.

So, as with any research method, reliability can indeed be a challenge in netnography. So here are some potential issues:

So, the first one is anonymity. Online environments often allow for greater anonymity, which can both help and hinder netnographic research. On the one hand, it can help by encouraging people to share experiences and perspectives they may be hesitant to discuss in person. On the other hand, the cloak of anonymity can also lead to dishonesty or misrepresentation, which can affect data reliability. I’d say one of the things that happen online is polarization. Since people are anonymous, they tend to express their opinions in a much more polarized way than they would if they were in an in-person type of discussion. Because when you are in an in-person discussion I think there is a level of negotiation that happens through the social cues you get from the other people you’re interacting with. Whereas online, it’s you and your monitor, so you don’t have those kinds of restraints and probably social negotiation that happens. So, in my experience, I would say that it may lead to more polarization in the views that pagans express in their community. But we can discuss that in the Q&A section if you want.

Then we have ephemerability. Online content can be temporary and disappear without notice, affecting the networker’s ability to verify and replicate things. For instance, a person may delete their account or suddenly shut down a whole discussion forum.

Then, we have the lack of non-verbal cues, which I mentioned in a different context. And like traditional ethnography, netnography lacks access to non-verbal cues like facial expressions, body language, and tone of voice, which can lead to misinterpretation of data. Emojis or text-based cues like capital letters for emphasis or size for an emotional cue of a certain type can help, but they don’t fully replace in-person cues.

Then, we have the self-selection bias. Many online communities are self-selected, meaning they may not accurately represent the diversity of a larger population. For example, a forum for Pagan witches may not represent the views of all pagans or all witches.

Then, we have the digital divide. Not all segments of society have equal access to technology or digital literacy skills. Thus, the voices heard online may not include those of marginalized or less tech-savvy individuals, leading to skewed data.

To address these challenges, researchers need to use critical thinking and triangulation, where multiple data sources are used to cross-verify findings. Combining netnography with other research methods like traditional ethnography or surveys can help improve the reliability and richness of data.

Of course, informed consent plays a crucial role, but as we mentioned earlier, it can be a bit challenging because when you are dealing with naturally occurring public, online data, it’s a bit difficult to get consent from thousands of people. So that is a challenge that netnographers face.

My research suggests that the most fruitful approach to studying contemporary paganism might be an integrative one, combining ethnographic and netnographic methods. This combination can potentially overcome the limitations of each method and provide a richer, more holistic understanding of pagan practices and beliefs. In essence, this combination would enable researchers to capture the depth and breadth of pagan experiences – both online and offline.

Ethnography can help us understand the physical, embodied aspects of pagan practices and the local community dynamics. While netnography can expose the global discourse, online rituals and digital expressions of pagan identity. Incorporating netnography can significantly enrich our understanding of these diverse religious movements. By acknowledging and navigating the unique opportunities, challenges, and ethical considerations that Netnography brings, we can extend our ethnographic lens into the digital realm.

Further, by employing an integrative approach that combines both ethnographic and netnographic methods, we can capture a more authentic holistic picture of paganism, one that respects its complexities and nuances and reflects its existence in both the physical and digital world because we live in both, let’s be honest. And so even paganism probably manifests in different or complementary ways in both worlds. The exploration of these themes is not only pertinent to Pagan Studies but also invites broader reflections on the evolving methodological landscape of ethnographic qualitative research in the digital age. And I hope that this research stimulates further discourse on these important issues.

But, now let’s look at the survey I conducted. So, the data has been analyzed on 613 entries even though we are nearing 700 now, but I needed time to prepare everything. And thank you very much to Andrew Reitemeyer, who was my research assistant and combined the data into the charts you will see.

So, this is the geographical distribution of the respondents to my survey. So I have to premise, because I think that it’s informative to understand this survey better, is that I collected these entries in the span of a couple of days. I have an online social media presence of about a hundred thousand followers across my platforms and I’m very grateful that my followers are quite engaged. So when I posted the survey many replied in the span of a couple of days. I was very pleased about that and if you’re one of those I thank you for that.

So this is the geographical distribution. As you can see…

[A question from the audience – inaudible]

There were some respondents from Italy, as you can see, it’s a bit green but between 11 and 30 respondents. But as I said, since I have advertised this survey on my social media platforms, my social media platforms are English-speaking – so obviously, it’s going to be more likely that English-speaking countries will, you know, respond to the survey, and it’s also what is reflected here. It’s also more likely, which is something that we need to consider when we analyze the survey results, that people who have responded to this survey are people who engage with social media and the internet to begin with. So, it’s not a survey that considers people who are not digitally literate. So that’s something we need to bear in mind.

So let’s see, the response to; how often do you use the internet for religious spiritual activities research community participation, rituals and so on? And as you can see the the majority said daily and the large majority daily or weekly and some said rarely. So you can see there is a significant and impressive presence of daily or weekly participation in religious and spiritual activities. Because even though this survey was… the respondents to this survey were likely people that are digitally literate and are on social media. But it doesn’t necessarily mean they would use social media and the internet for religious purposes. They could just be on social media or on the Internet for work or to interact with their family. So I think that it is still quite relevant data, that of those who are on social media and on the internet and engage with the internet, they use it specifically for religious spiritual activities, so that is quite impressive.

Then we have: how often do you participate in online Pagan communities? And this is a bit more… it’s less impressive in terms of how many people do that daily, but it’s still the majority that says daily or weekly. And I think it’s also fascinating how they answer how many use the internet for religious spiritual activities is so different from how many of them are participating in online Pagan communities. So, there is a distinction here that has been made between researching and using the internet to engage with your spirituality or learn something about your spirituality and actually being part of an online pagan Community. There’s a distinction here and it seems that fewer people are part of online communities compared to those who use the internet on a daily basis to further their spiritual or religious practices…

[A question from the audience – inaudible]

… and meaning being part, being an active part of a pagan community online. So, for instance, Pagan communities, Pagan groups, and Pagan covens. Yeah, so in the previous question here, I meant how often do you use the internet to learn something about your religious practice, to research or, you know, be part of a community, to gather knowledge, to gather information about a ritual, a spell. So that’s what I meant by using the internet to further your practice. The second question was more about whether you engage in an online Pagan Community like a pagan group, a pagan coven in a way, an online digital space – where you are an active part of the community. You’re not just using the internet or social media to gather information for your spiritual or religious path. Is that…

[A question from the audience – inaudible]

Yeah, it’s not a question specifically about rituals. I would probably have to do a separate survey on that, like how do you use it for rituals? Maybe I should have added a question on that with different responses so that we could better understand exactly what they do on the internet. I may very well run a separate survey on that. Because I don’t know if that happens to you as well, but every time I launch a survey, and I start getting the first hundred responses, I start second-guessing myself. It’s like oh, I should have added that question and then, you know, I always tend to do that.

[ inaudible audience reaction of agreement]

So it’s not just me, okay, that’s good to know. It always happens to me every time that I run a survey. But even when I’ve conducted fieldwork, I’ve been with people and undertaken training, rituals, and initiations during my doctoral research. And it happened even on those occasions, even when I was one-to-one with one person and learning about their practices afterward; you always have that, oh, I should have asked that or, you know, I should have said that. So you always had the kind of – your mind playing tricks on you. But at the same time, it gives you the opportunity to have follow-up questions because you reflect on what’s happened, and then you have a better sense, in hindsight, of what you should have asked. And when you have established a relationship with the community or with the people you’re studying for your research, you can follow it up with another interview. So it’s always good to have a back-and-forth relationship I think, with informants in your research. Because, at least in my experience, I had to follow up a few times because I always sometimes get ideas about what would be more informative and lead to more accurate research after I’ve done the interview as opposed to prior – not Aristotelian in that sense.

So here we have another question. What online platforms do you use for pagan-related activities regarding social media, forums, blogs, and so on? And most people use YouTube and Facebook. As you can see, YouTube is the first one. This could also be skewed because most of my following is from YouTube. But I also have a significant following on TikTok, although the YouTube Community tends to be more engaged, they could have also skewed the data. However, I know that YouTube has become the first search engine for under 26-year-olds. So YouTube is becoming more and more used, even more than Google, by the younger generation. So it doesn’t surprise me that much but when I look at this I still take into account my YouTube presence and whether that is skewing the data a little bit. It’s also likely that a lot of people do engage with YouTube when they want to learn about a ritual or they want to learn about something, a practice. YouTube tends to offer long-form videos that allow you to have a bit more breadth and depth of knowledge, whereas TikTok is a bit quicker and engages you in a different way. So yeah, it’s interesting also to see this.

Then, does participating in these online communities enhance your understanding of and practice of paganism? And here you can see an overwhelming majority of yes. So for the 71% of respondents, it’s a yes. It does enhance their understanding and practice of paganism. And then there is the 20% not sure. I should have added, you know, type the comment and explain why you’re unsure. I think that I was not expecting such a, you know, a big percentage of not sure, as we will see in another question as well. But as I said, I can still run a follow-up survey in light of this. So it is clear that people who, at least, are on the internet and use the internet and use the internet to learn about pagan practices think that it is further improving and enhancing the experience of pagans and their pagan practices and beliefs.

So, can netnographic research, the study of online communities, effectively capture the essence of contemporary paganism? And this is interesting because the majority is unsure and I can understand there may be many reasons. This is pure speculation because this is one of those questions that I wish I had, you know, further, with more questions or allowed participants to specify a bit more. I was a bit limited with the survey platform that I was using in terms of leaving comments. But yeah, this is definitely one that I’m interested in. Because it could be for many reasons. One reason is that pagans might not be familiar with what netnographic research is. I definitely have encountered researchers that are not familiar with netnographic research and are sceptical about it. Reviewer Two is an example that I will keep mentioning – but I’m kidding.

But yeah, netnographic research is something that is relatively new, and so there are even scholars that are skeptical about it, let alone contemporary pagans that, for very good reasons, don’t know exactly what it is and how it works. So, probably, this question was a bit unfair of me to ask because it kind of assumes that they would know what ethnographic research is and how it works. And they might very well have no clue. So that’s why they probably said, ‘not sure.’ So I think this question highlights more my mistake than anything. But I think it’s still really interesting, and it allows me to learn more about how to conduct surveys in the future.

I think that sometimes another mistake that I’ve noticed in myself in the past is that we scholars tend to have our own language when we talk about paganism and sometimes that’s not a shared language. It’s not a language that pagans know or are familiar with. So for us, it could be something that, you know, we talk about every day and so it’s super familiar – it’s something that we would be surprised that people don’t know about. But actually, pagans that are not scholars, academics, and not within these circles have completely different ways of forming their discourse. So this is also something that I always have to remind myself of. And probably my presence on social media has taught me that very well because I can tell when people don’t understand what I’m talking about and the terminology that I use, it’s like okay when I say ‘reify’ I have to put something on screen to explain what it is. Or a certain way of talking about Pagan Studies and paganism could be very unfamiliar to pagans who are not scholars.

So yeah, I think this is everything that I wanted to share with you and I look forward to your questions.

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Bye for now.

RECOMMENDED READINGS:
Kozinets’ Netnography https://amzn.to/3CoINZW
Hine’s Ethnography for the Internet https://amzn.to/3X4Sc23
Cowan’s Cyberhenge: Modern Pagans on the Internet https://amzn.to/3oWfOJE

First uploaded 12 Jun 2023