Athanasios (Sakis) Barmpalexis | University of Aberdeen (original) (raw)

Papers by Athanasios (Sakis) Barmpalexis

Εθνολογία 19, 2023

Η παρούσα μελέτη εντάσσεται στο πρόσφατο σώμα εθνογραφικών ερευνών, οι οποίες ασχολούνται με τους... more Η παρούσα μελέτη εντάσσεται στο πρόσφατο σώμα εθνογραφικών ερευνών, οι οποίες ασχολούνται με τους αυτοκινητόδρομους και τις έννοιες του εκσυγχρονισμού και της (μη) κινητικότητας. Ωστόσο, εν αντιθέσει με την πλειοψηφία των μελετών αυτών, οι οποίες ερευνούν την υλική πραγμάτωση οδικών δικτύων τοπικά και διατοπικά, το συγκεκριμένο άρθρο εστιάζει στη μη κατασκευή ενός σύγχρονου αυτοκινητόδρομου και στις πολυεπίπεδες επιπτώσεις που μπορεί να έχει μία τέτοια απόφαση για τις τοπικές κοινότητες, τις οποίες θα συνέδεε. Το άρθρο αυτό θα εξετάσει την περίπτωση ενός παλαιού ημιονικού δρόμου ιστορικής σημασίας για τις κοινότητες του Σοχού και της Νιγρίτας στην Κεντρική Μακεδονία, ο οποίος, παρότι βρίσκεται στα σχέδια της κεντρικής πολιτείας για ανακατασκευή σε αυτοκινητόδρομο εδώ κι έναν αιώνα, το έργο δεν υλοποιήθηκε ποτέ. Στόχος του άρθρου αυτού μέσω του συγκεκριμένου ερευνητικού παραδείγματος είναι να μας βοηθήσει να κατανοήσουμε την ψυχολογική δέσμευση και κοινωνική σύνδεση των ανθρώπων και των κοινοτήτων τους με τους δρόμους και τους χρήστες τους, να ρίξει νέο φως στο πώς αντιλαμβανόμαστε ή/και φαντασιωνόμαστε την κίνηση, την κινητικότητα, αλλά και τη νεωτερικότητα, γενικά, καθώς και να υπογραμμίσει τον ρόλο που μπορεί να διαδραματίσει μια εθνογραφική μελέτη στην ανάδειξη των πολύπλευρων συνδέσεων που μπορεί να έχει ένα έργο υποδομής με μια τοπική κοινότητα.

Τα Αυλάκια της Ζωής: περιβάλλον, τεχνολογία και κοινωνία , 2023

Το άρθρο εξετάζει πώς τα σύγχρονα νεοπαγανιστικά και νεοσαμανιστικά πνευματικά κινήματα στη Μεγάλ... more Το άρθρο εξετάζει πώς τα σύγχρονα νεοπαγανιστικά και νεοσαμανιστικά πνευματικά κινήματα στη Μεγάλη Βρετανία, και ειδικότερα στη Σκωτία, αλληλοεπιδρούν με το φυσικό περιβάλλον μέσω της σύνδεσής τους με το υπερφυσικό. Στο άρθρο παρουσιάζονται, μεταξύ άλλων, θεωρητικές προσεγγίσεις για το γενικότερο πλαίσιο της σύνδεσης αυτών των κινημάτων με το περιβάλλον αλλά και το πώς γίνεται αυτή η σύνδεση, ειδικότερα, στο Σκωτσέζικο τοπικό πλαίσιο μέσα από την
εθνογραφική έρευνα. Στόχος του άρθρου είναι να αναδειχθεί ο ρόλος και η σημαντικότητα των
προσκυνημάτων, των τελετών και των αφηγήσεων, μέσω των οποίων μέλη αυτών των κινημάτων υπό την καθοδήγηση ενός πνευματικού ηγέτη καταφέρνουν να γνωρίσουν το φυσικό περιβάλλον του τόπου τους και την διαχρονική εμπλοκή του με το υπερφυσικό και τους τοπικούς θρύλους και μύθους. Στο άρθρο παρουσιάζονται εθνογραφικά παραδείγματα μέσα από την έρευνα του συγγραφέα από το 2014 έως το 2020 στο πλαίσιο της διδακτορικής διατριβής του για την ύπαρξη και τις λειτουργίες λαϊκών θεραπευτών στη Βορειοανατολική Σκωτία.

Ethnologhia On Line 12, 2022

The article, based on ethnographic research, discusses the creation of an album that belongs to t... more The article, based on ethnographic research, discusses the creation of an album that belongs to the musical subcategory of medieval black metal. The creator of the album, Christos D., re-imagines, recreates, and presents medieval peasant traditions of resistance and revolt in his Mystras project, but through the perspective of the rebels and not through the official descriptions of the events as written by medieval authorities who belonged to the victorious sides. To achieve this, the artist referred to folklore and traditional song; he wanted to illustrate that, if these two are used within an accurate historical context, they highlight a completely different picture of medieval times than the one usually depicted in black metal, where a white, homogeneous, and noble medieval Europe is constantly portrayed as part of ethnocentric ideologies and reactionary agendas. Folklore and traditional song become ideological “weapons” in Mystras that symbolise that just as the peasants of medieval times revolted against injustice and oppression, so should the artists and audience exclude and eliminate far-right ideologies from black metal.

Preternature: Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural

The article, based on the author’s doctoral research on the life and work of contemporary folk he... more The article, based on the author’s doctoral research on the life and work of contemporary folk healers with shamanistic knowledge in North East Scotland, explores one key issue when it comes to healing traditions: What kind of healing do these individuals offer? In 1986, anthropologist James Dow, expanding on Daniel Moerman’s idea that all spiritual healers are in fact symbolic healers, suggested that these folk specialists use human communication, ritual, and culture-specific symbols as tools to heal others. Drawing from the author’s ethnographic fieldwork alongside one such spiritual healer, the article examines the healer’s symbolic healing approaches through the example of a spontaneous magic ritual he conducted in autumn 2015 in Greece. The article’s goal is to ethnographically demonstrate how the healer’s practices fit into Dow’s “symbolic healing” scheme as an integral component for the efficiency of his healing practices.

Shaman, 2022

This article, based on field-based research conducted between 2014-2020, examines the lives and w... more This article, based on field-based research conducted between 2014-2020, examines the lives and work of three healers practicing and teaching shamanism in NorthEast Scotland. The article aims to situate contemporary "western" healers within wider academic debates about shamanism as part of a dynamic cultural processes and to compare and contrast them with "traditional" shamanic practitioners. The article also examines whether these healers constitute a wider regional Scottish shamanic tradition, similar to that of "non-western" traditional shamanistic cultures, or whether these are still emerging and autonomous phenomena.

Český lid / Czech Ethnological Journal, 2021

Based on an ethnographic study of 'Western' forms of contemporary shamanism in North East Scotlan... more Based on an ethnographic study of 'Western' forms of contemporary shamanism in North East Scotland, the article discusses the significant role that eremitism plays in folk healing systems, particularly in shamanism. The tendency to live an isolated life is not only a key feature of traditional shamanic healing practices, but it can also be found in contemporary manifestations of them. Two such cases are discussed in this article. Terry Mace and Norman Duncan are two contemporary shamanic healers who live and offer services in the wider region of North East Scotland. For different individual reasons, they have self-consciously decided to isolate themselves geographically, living simply and self-abundantly, and leading an eremitic way of life away from materialism and socialising. The article thus focuses on examining the role of eremitism in the life of these two healers in an attempt to highlight the significance of the phenomenon in contemporary shamanisms.

Ritual Year, 2021

The 'Wild Hunt' is a folk myth found mainly in northern European mythologies associated with an e... more The 'Wild Hunt' is a folk myth found mainly in northern European mythologies associated with an ecstatic 'soul-ravening' night ϐlight led by a godly ϐigure who is accompanied by an other-than-human group of either dead souls or ghostly ϐigures. This particular myth has been incorporated and celebrated in present-day pagan rites, especially during Samhainn, the festival for the 'Celtic' New Year. Among those drawing upon the myth in creating their own 'Wild Hunt' ritual is Andrew Steed, a shamanic practitioner residing in Fife, Scotland. Even though the mythic tale is often linked with ϐigures such as Odin, Gwyn ap Nudd, or Herne, Steed associates it with the Irish saga of the Second Battle of Moytura (Cath Maige Turied), as passed to him through the tales and the spirits. 2016's three-day ritual, held near Lumphanan, Aberdeenshire, was his eighteenth. This paper aims to present and examine the rituals, structures, themes, aims, and functions of Steed's 'Wild Hunt' celebration, as well as his personal opinions on his adaptation and his role in it, while also addressing my the experiences during the event in academic terms. It will include a general academic discussion on the 'Wild Hunt' concept and the ambiguity regarding its origins and functions, and will also touch upon the shamanic aspects of the 'Wild Hunt', in its mythical-ritualistic form and as manifested by Steed.

· Ethnologhia on line, 2020

This article examines the background and the creation process of a contemporary tarot card deck c... more This article examines the background and the creation process of a contemporary tarot card deck crafted by a
‘western’ shamanic healer in Scotland, Terry Mace, named by its creator as The New Urban Shaman’s Oracle. Its
creation was the outcome of a profound inspiration that Mace had experienced in October 2015 while staying in
Delphi for a conference, and later, after witnessing the socio-political and financial struggles of life in Athens
during the memorandum years. However, the Oracle, according to its creator, is unlike the majority of all other
contemporary tarot decks whose primary focus and function is divination; with its powerful, contradictory, and
sometimes profane, messages and profound imageries, Mace’s tarot deck aims and intends to inspire and raise
social and political awareness for its readers, both in personal and communal levels. Drawing upon participatory
ethnographic fieldwork data gathered between 2014 and 2019, the article presents the background for the birth of
the Oracle, the motivations and inspirations of the artisan, as well as its crafting process, aims, objectives, and
meanings. It also examines historically and socio-culturally tarot cards, while it includes reactions by some of the
individuals who have used Mace’s deck for their own personal reasons and purposes. Finally, it tries to show how
the different living ways and cultural background of another European country like Greece can ultimately be a
source of inspiration for people like Mace, who come from a completely different socio-cultural context.