Satanism och identitet : En hermeneutisk analys av satanistiska texter

Syftet med denna studie är att göra en analys av två olika satanistiska rörelsers texter och deras syn på identitet och identitetsskapande. De rörelser som valdes till denna studie är The Church of Satan och The Greater Church of Lucifer. För att genomföra analysen valdes två böcker ut som representerar respektive rörelsers grundläggande filosofi, dessa var The Satanic Bible (1969, 2005) samt Wisdom of Eosphoros (2015). Analysens teori grundade sig på begrepp som är plockade från queerteorin, för att belysa synen på vad som är normalt och onormalt samt synen på sexualitet och genus. Utöver detta analyserades även rörelsernas syner på kärlek och relationer, innan rörelsernas budskap jämfördes för att se om det finns några korrelationer mellan de två. För att genomföra analysen valdes en kategoriseringsmetod som inspirerats av idé- och ideologianalys. Resultatet visade att båda rörelserna var kritiska till givna samhälleliga sanningar, och ställde sig kritiska till tanken om att det skall finnas några universella normer och moralregler. De båda förespråkade även den fria sexualiteten, där läggning och preferenser ses som irrelevanta. Hos satanismen gick det att återfinna normativa uttalanden kring genus, kön och könsroller, medan luciferianismen inte lägger någon vikt vid dessa kategorier. Dock lägger de båda rörelserna sitt huvudsakliga fokus på den enskilde individens autonomitet och självbestämmande, där man uppmanas att bryta mot alla konventioner som inte leder till den egna lyckan.

Pimeä hehku : Satanismi ja saatananpalvonta 1990-luvun suomalaisessa nuorisokulttuurissa

Satanism in the Finnish Youth Culture of the 1990s The aim of this study was to investigate Satanism among Finnish youth in the 1990s. Thematic interviews of young Finnish Satanists are the basic material of this study. The research employs a theoretical framework derived from narrative psychology and the role-theoretical thinking of Dan P. McAdams. The young Satanists in Finland have been divided into two different groups: the criminal and drug using "devil-worshipping gangs"; and the more educated and philosophically oriented "Satanists" (Heino 1993). What can we say about this division? In the 1990s around Finland, there were young people calling themselves as devil- worshippers (either singular or in groups). They were strongly committed to a mythical devilish and cosmic battle, which they believed was going on in this world. They had problems with their mental health, also in their family socialization and peer groups. In their personal attitudes they were either active fighters or passive tramps. There were also rationally oriented young Satanists, that were ritually active and mainly atheistic. They strongly expressed their personal experiences of being individual and of being different than others. In their personal attitudes they were critical fighters and active survivors. They saw their lives through the satanistic 'finding-oneself experience'. They understood themselves as a "postmodern tribe" (Michel Maffesoli's sosiocultural concept): their sense of themselves was that of a dynamic collectivity which is social, dynamic, nonlocal and mythically historical. Death and black metal culture in the 1990s formed a common space for youth culture, where young individuals could work out their feelings and express their attitudes to life using dark satanic themes and symbols. The sense of "otherness" (also other than satanic) and collective demands for authenticity were essential tools that were used for identity work here. Personal disengagement from satanic/satanistic groups were observed to be gradual or quite rapid. Religious conversions back-and-forth also accured. At the end of the 1990s all off satanism in Finland bore a negative devil-worshipping stigma. Ritual homicide in South-Finland (Kerava/Hyvinkää) was connected to Satanism, which then became unpopular both in the personal life stories and alternative youth cultural circles at the beginning of the 2000s.

Human monstrosity: rape, ambiguity and performance in Rosemary’s Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968)

The narrative of Rosemary’s Baby hinges on a central hesitation between pregnancy induced madness and the existence of Satanism. Accordingly, the monstrous element is embodied in both the real and the supernatural: Rosemary’s husband Guy (John Cassavetes) is responsible for her victimisation through rape in either explanation. However, I will argue that the inherent ambiguity of the plot makes it difficult to place him as such a figure typical to the archetypal horror binaries of normality/monster, human/inhuman. By displacing generic convention the film complicates the issue of monstrosity, whilst simultaneously offering the possibility for the depiction of female experience of marriage to be at the centre of the narrative, for the real to be possibly of more significance than the supernatural. Previous writing has tended to concentrate on Rosemary and her pregnancy, so through detailed consideration of Cassavetes’ performance and its placement in the mise-en-scène this focus on Guy aims to demonstrate that he changes almost as much as Rosemary does. The chapter will focus on the film’s depiction of rape, during Rosemary’s nightmare and after it, in order to demonstrate how the notion of performance reveals Guy’s monstrousness and the difficulties this represents in our engagement with him.

Tradition and progress,

Also published under title: Essays & addresses.