We Are Spirits Of Another Sort - Joseph Laycock

I would contend that this is one of the most important academic papers ever written concerning the sociological and identity aspects of the Otherkin community. Perspectives from Dan O'Dea, Gerbasi, Hesson, Kirby, Lupa, Mamatas, Nytemuse, Orion Sandstorrm, Sade Wolfkitten, Suscitatio (AVA), Sylvere ap Leanan, Th'Elf, and more are all part of this article. It's well worth your time to read and I encourage everyone to either purchase a copy or request it from their local college or university library.

If interested, I'd also encourage you to to review Dr. Laycock's 2010 article through Nova Religio; Real Vampires as an Identity Group: Analyzing Causes and Effects of an Introspective Survey by the Vampire Community which is available at http://www.jstor.org/pss/10.1525/nr.2010.14.1.4 Joseph Laycock is the author of Vampires Today: The Truth About Modern Vampirism Praeger 2009 - http://www.amazon.com/Vampires-Today-Truth-Modern-Vampirism/dp/0313364729

We Are Spirits of Another Sort: Ontological Rebellion and Religious Dimensions of the Otherkin
Community
By Joseph P. Laycock, PhD
Nova Religio - The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions
February 2012, Vol. 15, No. 3, Pages 65-90

Purchase Article: http://www.jstor.org/pss/10.1525/nr.2012.15.3.65

Abstract:

Otherkin are individuals who identify as "not entirely human." Scholarship has framed this identity claim as religious because it is frequently supported by a framework of metaphysical beliefs. This article draws on survey data and interviews with Otherkin in order to provide a more thorough treatment of the phenomenon and to assess and qualify the movement's religious dimensions. It is argued that, in addition to having a substantively religious quality, the Otherkin community serves existential and social functions commonly associated with religion. In the final analysis, the Otherkin community is regarded as an alternative nomos--a socially constructed worldview--that sustains alternate ontologies.

SEE ALSO: NOVA RELIGIO ARTICLE (2010) CONCERNING REAL VAMPIRIES:

Real Vampires as an Identity Group: Analyzing Causes and Effects of an Introspective Survey by the Vampire Community
By Joseph Laycock
Nova Religio - The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions
August 2010, Vol. 14, No. 1, Pages 4-23

Purchase Article: http://www.jstor.org/pss/10.1525/nr.2010.14.1.4

Abstract:

"Real vampires" believe that they must either consume blood or feed on "subtle" energy in order to maintain their physical, mental, and spiritual health. Recent scholarship has analyzed vampirism as a religious movement or as a cluster of "vampire religions." This article argues that vampirism should be viewed foremost as an identity around which social and religious institutions have formed. This model accounts for the mosaic of religious and cultural orientations held by vampires and acknowledges the vampire community's claims that vampirism is not a choice. It also facilitates a functionalist reading of vampire discourse as validating a new category of person.