Ethnographies of the Esoteric: Introducing Anthropological Methods and Theories to the Study of Contemporary Esotericism

Abstract

In this article, we introduce the ContERN special issue on ethnographies of the esoteric. While the study of esotericism has been dominated by historical-philological scholarship, recent years have seen an increase in anthropological approaches to contemporary esotericism. We arguethat this development provides the field not only with new tools, but also fresh perspectiveson long-standing theoretical challenges. What are the implications of situating esotericism inparticular ethnographic fieldsites? How does anthropological theory reflect on deep-rooted assumptions in the field? We address these questions using examples from the articles in thepresent special issue as well as other recent ethnographies of esoteric subject matter.