Intergenerational Friendship as a Conduit for Social Inclusion? Insights from the “Book‐Ends”

Friendship is said to promote psychological and physical well‐being and increase social inclusion. Yet, intergenerational friendship has garnered little research attention due to the assumed dominance of age homophily in friendship. In this article we explore intergenerational friendship from the perspective of “younger” and “older” friends at the “generational book‐ends” of the life course. We focus on the role that intergenerational friendship plays in processes of social inclusion in the everyday lives of the participants, bringing together a study conducted in Finland and one in Ireland. Both studies employ qualitative methodology, drawing from interviews with 31 young people who were refugees (aged 13–18) in Finland and 23 older people (aged 65+) in Ireland. Our findings reveal that the younger and the older participants concur on the qualities and benefits of intergenerational friendship. Additionally, while age is not a uniform definer of friendships, differences in chronological age are not meaningless but support caring, enjoyment, and inclusion in alternative ways compared to peer‐aged friendships. Access to diverse company, distinct support, broader networks, and alternative identities lead to increased experiences of social inclusion at a personal and societal level. We conclude by calling on policy makers and communities to create spaces and opportunities for inclusion through friendship for all generations.

Nothing Eternal About It

This chapter addresses the common claims that sectarianism is either an ancient Arab phenomenon that has always existed and will always exist or a foreign conspiracy intended to divide the Arabs. It shows that both of these propositions abdicate responsibility for explaining a sectarianism cast as fundamentally inscrutable. In fact, this chapter argues that before the Ottoman Tanzimat reforms, there was no political public sphere in the Islamic World, and thus political sectarianism simply could not have existed. However, the chapter also observes that both Arab governments and opposition movements have drawn increasingly on primordial ties to strengthen their authority or make their case, with local loyalties often forming the basis of ruling elites. Rural people have fallen back on traditional social structures, while urbanites have suffered from social atomization and gone looking for alternative identities. As the state’s authority declined, sectarian and local identities took its place.

Knowledge of Self: Possibilities for Spoken Word Poetry, Hip Hop Pedagogy, and “Blackout Poetic Transcription” in Critical Qualitative Research

This article traces the development of Blackout Poetic Transcription (BPT) as a critical methodology for artist-scholars engaged with Hip Hop pedagogy in higher education spaces. We include Keith’s outline of the BPT method and Endsly’s first hand account of implementing the practice in an undergraduate classroom. Together, the authors grapple with mainstream and alternative identities within their Hip Hop praxis as spoken word artists and educators.

Identity and Alterity

A brief conclusion draws together the preceding chapters by emphasizing how they have presented the sagas of Icelanders as narrative explorations of identity and alterity which reflect, but also helped to construct, medieval Icelandic beliefs about the past and how the present came to be. The narratives illuminate beliefs surrounding the ways humans relate to animals, to their physical environment, and to the supernatural. Some saga characters exemplify ideals to which men and women could aspire. But in also describing characters who fail or deliberately refuse to meet society’s expectations, the sagas also offered opportunities for readers to imagine different possibilities and alternative identities.

From The Wicker Man (1973) to Atlantean Kodex: Extreme music, alternative identities and the invention of paganism

The German epic heavy/doom metal band Atlantean Kodex has written two concept albums based on the folklore and paganism of old Europe and the West: The Golden Bough and The White Goddess. The two albums owe their titles to two books that have influenced the rise of modern paganism, though they remain deeply problematical. In this article, I explore possibly the most important influence on Atlantean Kodex, which is also one of the most important influences on modern paganism: the 1973 horror film The Wicker Man. I discuss the ways in which the film uses the speculative folklore of Frazer and Graves to construct a set of invented traditions about paganism and its alternative, counter-Christian nature, which have made paganism appealing to extreme metal musicians and fans. In this discussion, I use examples from other metal bands and fans who have name-checked the themes and the traditions of the film. In discussing the folklore of the Wicker Man, I also explore the folk music used in the soundtrack, which has also contributed to the invention of modern paganism and extreme folk music. I conclude by suggesting that, although many pagans have adopted this extreme music and myth into their world-views, the myth of the Wicker Man is also used as a playful rejection of Christianity and its authority by those of a secular or humanist persuasion.