The Krampus in Austria. A Case of Booming Identity Politics.

Author(s)

Matthäus Rest, Gertraud Seiser

Abstract

In Austria, the Krampus has recently witnessed an unprecedented boom. Since the early 2000s, the number
of troupes and organized events has skyrocketed. Most of these can be termed ‘invented traditions’ in
Hobsbawm’s sense, as there are only a handful of places with a history of the practice from before the midtwentieth
century. Despite the vast differences between regions, young men in all of them dress up in masks
that invoke associations with the devil or demons, wear long fur suits and roam the streets scaring and attacking
onlookers with the switches they carry. Investigating contemporary Krampus practices in rural Austria, we argue
that they serve as important sources of identity making, at the centre of which are relations between men and
women, as well as between ethnic Austrians and immigrants. Through an engagement with anthropological
discussions on identity, our article will suggest that the recent Krampus boom is indicative of new forms of
white identity politics in Europe.

Organisation(s)

Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology

External organisation(s)

Max-Planck-Institut für Menschheitsgeschichte

Journal

Ethnoscripts : Analysen und Informationen aus dem Institut für Ethnologie der Universität Hamburg

Volume

20

Pages

35-57

No. of pages

23

ISSN

1438-5244

Publication date

08-2018

Peer reviewed

Yes

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

504009 Ethnology

Keywords

Portal url

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/a91dfa91-1473-4af4-bb22-6f9f8ea83005