British author and academic (born 1974)
Joseph Gelfer |
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| Born | 1974
Southampton, England |
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| Nationality | British |
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| Education | BA Hons, University of Bristol, PhD, Victoria University, New Zealand |
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| Occupation(s) | Researcher in religion and masculinities, academic editor and coach |
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| Notable work | Numen, Old Men: Contemporary Masculine Spiritualities and the Problem of Patriarchy, 2012: Decoding the Countercultural Apocalypse |
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Joseph Gelfer (born 1974) is a British author and academic. He is noted for his academic analysis of spiritual and religious topics and masculinity. His book 2012: Decoding the Countercultural Apocalypse (which brought together scholarly analyses of the end of the world phenomenon from anthropology, Mayan studies, religious studies and cultural studies) attracted considerable media attention.
Gelfer is the founding and current editor of Journal of Men, Masculinities and Spirituality, creator of the Future Masculinity online course and Director of Masculinity Research.
Early life and education
Gelfer was born in 1974 in Southampton, England.[citation needed]
He has a BA Hons from University of Bristol[citation needed] and a doctorate in religious studies from Victoria University of Wellington (2008).[1] His thesis was titled Numen, Old Men: contemporary masculine spiritualities and the problem of patriarchy.[2]
Academic research and professional positions
Joseph Gelfer is a lecturer and tutor at Université Catholique de l'Ouest.[3] He has had concurrent careers in research in religion and masculinities and in academic editing and coaching. He has held positions as Adjunct Research Associate at the School of Political and Social Inquiry at Monash University,[4] Honorary Research Associate at University of Divinity, Melbourne,[5] as editorial specialist at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) and an assistant editor at the University of London.[3]
The book derived from his doctoral thesis, Numen, Old Men: Contemporary Masculine Spiritualities and the Problem of Patriarchy (Equinox Publishers, 2009) proposed that masculine spirituality tends to perpetuate a patriarchal spirituality, and that gay spirituality and queer theory can be a useful way to think about masculinities for all men, gay or straight. He has published extensively on how masculinity functions in contemporary society and, more specifically, in contemporary religion. He proposes that by questioning the social construction of masculinity in the everyday it is possible to create a more equitable and sustainable society.
2012: Decoding the Countercultural Apocalypse
Leading up to and during 2012 Gelfer received media attention[6][7][8][9][10] surrounding the publishing of his book 2012: Decoding the Countercultural Apocalypse which brought together scholarly analyses of the end of the world phenomenon from anthropology, Mayan studies, religious studies and cultural studies. The book examined the "merits and demerits of cultural appropriation" and "the lack of consensus between different scholars and the inconsistent goals of different disciplines."[11] Gelfer's aim in writing the book was "to strike some balance between visionary and critical thinking"[12] and he was criticised by members from the skeptical, catastrophist, conspiracy and spiritually inclined communities for his non-partisan views.[12][13] His proposition from the book's analysis was that no physical event would occur but "that people [would] realise the changes they dearly wish to see in the world will not come from some cosmic source, but rather instead political agency and social activism. And that, ironically, may result in 2012 being a catalyst for a shift in human consciousness, exactly as the prophets predicted."[7][13]
Other writing
In addition to his academic work, Gelfer has also been active in social commentary publishing articles about such wide-ranging topics as psychedelic substances within a spiritual context,[14][15][16] the commercialisation of spiritualities,[17] child discipline,[18] open access publishing[19] and teetotalism.[20] He has also published a number of travel articles[21][22][23][24] and a book of Latrinalia called The Little Book of Toilet Graffiti (which according to Gelfer was simply a fund raising exercise and was followed by The Little Book of Student Bollocks and The Little Book of Office Bollocks).[25]
