Otherkin News

Content warnings: none.

May 20 to 28. The newspaper Le Monde (est. 1944) ran an introductory article about otherkin and therianthropes. As the original article is in French, therianthrope Akhila made an English translation of it. The article covers many aspects of the topic, including history. It draws from several print and web sources, as well as interviews.

Sources

Olivier Clairouin. "Pas complètement humains : la vie en ligne des thérians et otherkins." 2014-05-20. Le Monde (online newspaper). http://www.lemonde.fr/cultures-web/article/2014/05/20/pas-completement-humains-la-vie-en-ligne-des-therians-et-otherkins_4410306_4409029.html?xtmc=otherkin&xtcr=1

Olivier Clairouin. Akhila, trans. "Not Completely Human: The Online Life of Therians and Otherkin." 2014-05-28. Beyond Awakening (blog). http://thehornedgate.wordpress.com/2014/05/28/the-online-life-of-therians-and-otherkin/

Content warnings: None.

September: In the academic Journal of Religion, Media, and Digital Culture, David Robertson reviewed Danielle Kirby's writings about the otherkin community in Fantasy and Belief: Alternative Religions, Popular Narratives and Digital Cultures, a book published this year.

Robertson's review also functions as a concise introduction to otherkin and some of the overlapping groups described by Kirby. See that Robertson opens the review by giving a definition of otherkin:

The Otherkin are an online community of individuals who identify as ontologically non-human; while occupying a human body, their 'true selves' (one might read 'souls') are other. The majority of Otherkin identify as animals, beings recognisable from folklore and mythology (dragons, elves, vampires) or characters and races from popular fiction (literature, television, computer games and particularly Japanese manga and anime). [...] Of course, there is no strict delineation to be drawn between fictional and religious or mythological narratives; while dragons, fairies and angels all derive from the mythologies of specific historical cultures, their contemporary constructions derive as much, if not more, from recent portrayals in popular fiction.

I think this is a fairly satisfactory definition of otherkin. Later in the review, Robertson tells of some groups that Kirby considers sub-groups of otherkin (otaku-kin and Elenari elves) and some overlapping groups (multiples and soulbonds). Notably, I see no mention of animal people such as therianthropes or furries.

Regarding Kirby's book itself, Robertson said,

"Despite her admonition that [Kirby's] aim was not to provide 'an exhaustive exploration of the Otherkin community' but rather to explore 'the dual influences of speculative (primarily fantasy) fiction and communication technology in the creation of alternative metaphysical systems', the book is nevertheless just that, with chapters devoted to how the Otherkin relate to these themes. Too much of the book is little more than a catalogue of related but not particularly relevant concepts and communities ..."

Robertson voiced disappointment about some insufficiently relevant material in the book, particularly a chapter that gave histories of mythological creatures, which did not contribute much to understanding otherkin or questioning religiosity.

I noticed that Robertson made a few errors in the review. Robertson misspells "Elenari Elves" as "Elanari Elves." Robertson also perpetuates the common misconception of conflating schizophrenia with Disassociative Identity Disorder.



Source

David Robertson, "Review." Journal of Religion, Media, and Digital Culture 2: 2 (Sept 2013).
http://jrmdc.com/reviews/fantasy-belief/
(That's the full article, in HTML.)
http://jrmdc.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Review_FantasyandBelief_Robertson_Sept2013.pdf
(That's a direct link to the full article, in PDF.)