Damanhur, An Exemplary Utopia
An Analysis of the Public Identity of a New Religious Movement Online
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.v5i1.27Keywords:
new religious movement, Damanhur, utopia, public identity, online communicationAbstract
The Damanhur Federation, situated in Valchiusella, Piedmont, Italy, is one of the most structured and long-lived esoteric communities in Europe. Beginning with a reconstruction of its history and organizational changes, from its foundation in 1975 to the present, this article aims to analyse how—by means of exoteric initiatives of a social nature, increasing gradually over the years—the original spiritual-esoteric Utopia meshed with the community’s need for self-sufficiency. With this objective in mind, we shall analyse the online (official websites) communication rhetoric with which Damanhur presents itself to the outside world as a spiritual community, while at the same time advertising and legitimizing itself as a cultural and commercial organization.
References
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Introvigne, Massimo. 1999 "Damanhur: A Magical Community in Italy" In New Religious Movements: Challenge and Response, edited by Bryan Wilson and J. Cresswell, 183–194. London: Routledge.
Introvigne Massimo and PierLuigi Zoccatelli. 2013 Enciclopedia delle religioni in Italia. Leumann (Torino): ElleDiCi.
Kristeva, Julia. 1978 Semeiotiche. Ricerche per una semanalisi. Milano: Feltrinelli.
Krüger, Oliver. 2005 "Discovering the Invisible Internet. Methodological Aspects of Searching Religion on the Internet." Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet 1 (1).
Madden, Etta M. 2013 "Sustaining Changes in an Intentional Community". In Spiritual and Visionary Communities: Out to Save the World, edited by Timothy Miller, 15–28, Farnham: Ashgate.
Mannheim, Karl. 1936 Ideology and Utopia. London: Routledge.
Meijerink, Eva. 2010 "The Game of Life: The Significance of Play in the Commune of Damanhur." Journal of Contemporary Religion 18 (2): 155–168.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1353790032000067491
Merrifield, Jeff. 1998 Damanhur. The Community They Tried to Brand a Cult. London: Thorsons.
Miller, Timothy. 2010 "A Matter of Definition : Just What is an Intentional Community ?" Communal Societies 30(1): 1–15.
Moscovici, Serge. 1976 Social Influence and Social Change. London : Academic Press.
Niebuhr, Richard. 1957 The Social Sources of Denominationalism. New York : Meridian Books.
O'Dea, Thomas. 1961 "Five Dilemmas in the Institutionalization of Religion." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 1: 30–39.http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1385174
Pace, Enzo. 2000 "Damanhur, de la religion à la politique." Ethnologie française 30(4): 575–582.
Pedersen, Jesper S. and Frank Dobbin. 2006 "In Search of Identity and Legitimation: Bridging Organizational Culture and Neoinstitutionalism." American Behavioral Scientist 49(7): 897-–907. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0002764205284798
Perelman, Chaïm and Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca. 1958 Traité de l'argumentation. La nouvelle rhétorique. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Richardson, James T., Robert Balch and J. Gordon Melton. 1993 "Problems of Research and Data in the Study of New Religions." In The Handbook on Cults and Sects in America, edited by David G. Bromley and J.K. Hadden, 213–229. London: Jai.
Séguy, Jean. 1971 "Les sociétiés imaginées: monachisme et utopie." Annales. Economie, Sociétés, Civilisation 26(2): 328–354
Simmel, Georg. 1906 "The Sociology of Secrecy and of Secret Societies." American Journal of Sociology 11(4): 441–498.http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/211418
Stambecco Pesco. 2011 La mia Damanhur. La più grande comunità spirituale italiana raccontata da chi ci vive. Reggio Emilia: Altiparaggi.
Stark Rodney and William S. Bainbridge. 1985 The Future of Religion. Secularization, Revival and Cult Formation. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Sutcliffe, Steven J. 2006 "Practising New Age Soteriologies in the Rational Order." In Popular Spiritualities. The Politics of Contemporary Enchantment, edited by Lynne Hume and K. McPhillips, 159–174. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Tiryakian, Edward A. 1972 "Towards the Sociology of Esoteric Culture." American Journal of Sociology 78(3): 491–512.http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/225361 Toulmin, Stephen E. 1958 The Uses of Argument. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Berzano, Luigi. 1998 Damanhur. Popolo e comunità. Leumann (Torino): ElleDiCi.
Berzano, Luigi and Letizia Viarengo. forthcoming "Etica ed economia in Damanhur. Culture del lavoro e del denaro." In Religioni e Marketing, edited by MariaChiara Giorda, S. Palmisano and Maria Grazia Turri. Milano: Mimesis.
Bloch, Ernst. 2009 Spirito dell'utopia. Milano: Rizzoli.
Bromley, David G. 1998 "The Social Construction of Contested Exit Roles: Defectors, Whistle-blowers, and Apostates." In The Politics of Apostasy: The Role of Apostates in the Transformation of Religious Movements, edited by David G. Bromley, 19–48. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Burke, Kenneth. 1969 A Rhetoric of Motives. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Campbell, Heidi. 2006 "Religion and the Internet." Communication Research and Trends 25 (1): 3–24.
Campbell, Heidi. 2005 "Spiritualising the Internet. Uncovering Discourses and Narratives of Religious Internet Usage." Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet 1 (1).
Cardano, Mario. 1997 Lo specchio, la rosa e il loto. Uno studio sulla sacralizzazione della natura. Roma: Seam.
Cardano, Mario and Nicola Pannofino. forthcoming Piccole apostasie. La fuoriuscita dai nuovi movimenti religiosi. Bologna: il Mulino.
Casey, Cheryl A. 2001 "Online Religion and Finding Faith on the Web: An Examination of Beliefnet.org." Proceedings of the Media Ecology Association 2, June 15–16.
Chaves, Mark. 1998 "Denominations as Dual Structures: An Organizational Analysis." In Sacred Companies. Organizational Aspects of Religion and Religious Aspects of Organizations, edited by N.J. Demerath III, P.Dobkin Hall, T. Schmitt, R.H. Williams, 175–194. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Cheney, George. 1983 "The Rhetoric of Identification and the Study of Organizational Communication." Quarterly Journal of Speech 69: 143–158.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00335638309383643
Cowan, Douglas E. 2007 "Religion on the Internet." In The Sage Handbook of the Sociology of Religion, edited by James A. Beckford and N.J. Demerath III, 357–376. London: Sage.http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781848607965.n18
Damanhur. 2013 May – August [access dates] "Con te per il Paese" Online URL: http://www.damanhur.info/impegno-sociale-e-politico/1278-con-te-per-il-paese
Damanhur. "Filosofia della DAMANHURcrea" Online URL: http://www.damanhurcrea.it/index.php/valori/#filosofiadamanhurcrea
Damanhur. "La Filosofia Damanhuria" Online URL: http://www.damanhur.info/chi-siamo/filosofia-e-ricerca/filosofia-damanhuriana
Damanhur. "Tecnologia Selfica" Online URL: http://www.quadriselfici.it/index.php/it/tecnologia-selfica
"La Mia Damanhur: ore 9.30 – 11.00, capitolo terzo, Per cambiare il mondo" Online URL: http://www.unostambeccoadamanhur.it/2012/09/13/ore-9-30-11-00-capitolo-terzo-per-cambiare-il-mondo/.
Del Re, Michele and Maria Immacolata Macioti. 2013 Comunità spirituali del XXI secolo. Memorie, esistente, futuro. Il caso Damanhur. Roma: Aracne.
Esperide Ananas. 2006 Damanhur: i templi dell'umanità. Baldissero Canavese: Val Ra Damanhur
Fairclough, Norman. 1992 Discourse and Social Change. London: Routledge.
Foucault, Michel. 1966 Les mots et les choses. Une archéologie des sciences humaines. Paris: Gallimard.
Goffman, Erving. 1959 The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Anchor Books.
Granholm Kennet. 2009 "The Sociology of Esotericism." In The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Religion, edited by Peter B. Clarke, 783–800. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Greil, Arthur L. and David R. Rudy. 1984 "Social Cocoons: Encapsulation and Identity Transforming Organizations." Sociological Inquiry 54: 260–278.http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-682X.1984.tb00060.x
Hackett, Rosalind. 2006 "Religion and the Internet." Diogenes 211: 67–76.http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0392192106069015
Hanegraaff, Wouter J. 1996 New Age and Western Culture. Leiden: Brill.
Hardy, Cynthia, Ian Palmer and Nelson Phillips. 2000 "Discourse as a Strategic Resource." Human Relations 53 (9): 1227–1248.http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0018726700539006
Helland, Christopher. 2005 "Online Religion as Lived Religion. Methodological Issues in the Study of Religious Participation on the Internet." Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet 1 (1).
Introvigne, Massimo. 1999 "Damanhur: A Magical Community in Italy" In New Religious Movements: Challenge and Response, edited by Bryan Wilson and J. Cresswell, 183–194. London: Routledge.
Introvigne Massimo and PierLuigi Zoccatelli. 2013 Enciclopedia delle religioni in Italia. Leumann (Torino): ElleDiCi.
Kristeva, Julia. 1978 Semeiotiche. Ricerche per una semanalisi. Milano: Feltrinelli.
Krüger, Oliver. 2005 "Discovering the Invisible Internet. Methodological Aspects of Searching Religion on the Internet." Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet 1 (1).
Madden, Etta M. 2013 "Sustaining Changes in an Intentional Community". In Spiritual and Visionary Communities: Out to Save the World, edited by Timothy Miller, 15–28, Farnham: Ashgate.
Mannheim, Karl. 1936 Ideology and Utopia. London: Routledge.
Meijerink, Eva. 2010 "The Game of Life: The Significance of Play in the Commune of Damanhur." Journal of Contemporary Religion 18 (2): 155–168.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1353790032000067491
Merrifield, Jeff. 1998 Damanhur. The Community They Tried to Brand a Cult. London: Thorsons.
Miller, Timothy. 2010 "A Matter of Definition : Just What is an Intentional Community ?" Communal Societies 30(1): 1–15.
Moscovici, Serge. 1976 Social Influence and Social Change. London : Academic Press.
Niebuhr, Richard. 1957 The Social Sources of Denominationalism. New York : Meridian Books.
O'Dea, Thomas. 1961 "Five Dilemmas in the Institutionalization of Religion." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 1: 30–39.http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1385174
Pace, Enzo. 2000 "Damanhur, de la religion à la politique." Ethnologie française 30(4): 575–582.
Pedersen, Jesper S. and Frank Dobbin. 2006 "In Search of Identity and Legitimation: Bridging Organizational Culture and Neoinstitutionalism." American Behavioral Scientist 49(7): 897-–907. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0002764205284798
Perelman, Chaïm and Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca. 1958 Traité de l'argumentation. La nouvelle rhétorique. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Richardson, James T., Robert Balch and J. Gordon Melton. 1993 "Problems of Research and Data in the Study of New Religions." In The Handbook on Cults and Sects in America, edited by David G. Bromley and J.K. Hadden, 213–229. London: Jai.
Séguy, Jean. 1971 "Les sociétiés imaginées: monachisme et utopie." Annales. Economie, Sociétés, Civilisation 26(2): 328–354
Simmel, Georg. 1906 "The Sociology of Secrecy and of Secret Societies." American Journal of Sociology 11(4): 441–498.http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/211418
Stambecco Pesco. 2011 La mia Damanhur. La più grande comunità spirituale italiana raccontata da chi ci vive. Reggio Emilia: Altiparaggi.
Stark Rodney and William S. Bainbridge. 1985 The Future of Religion. Secularization, Revival and Cult Formation. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Sutcliffe, Steven J. 2006 "Practising New Age Soteriologies in the Rational Order." In Popular Spiritualities. The Politics of Contemporary Enchantment, edited by Lynne Hume and K. McPhillips, 159–174. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Tiryakian, Edward A. 1972 "Towards the Sociology of Esoteric Culture." American Journal of Sociology 78(3): 491–512.http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/225361 Toulmin, Stephen E. 1958 The Uses of Argument. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Published
2019-08-31
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Palmisano, S., & Pannofino, N. L. (2019). Damanhur, An Exemplary Utopia: An Analysis of the Public Identity of a New Religious Movement Online. International Journal for the Study of New Religions, 5(1), 27-50. https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.v5i1.27
