Damanhur, An Exemplary Utopia: An Analysis of the Public Identity of a New Religious Movement Online
Issue: Vol 5 No. 1 (2014)
Journal: International Journal for the Study of New Religions
Subject Areas: Religious Studies
Abstract:
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.
Author: Stefania Palmisano, Nicola Luciano Pannofino
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