Category: Academic Reportage

Source: The Conversation – USA (3) – By Febe Armanios, Professor of History, Middlebury College

When the United States and Israel began striking Iran on Feb. 28, 2026, images of smoke billowing over Iranian cities began to dominate the news. But another feature of those skylines has remained constant: the thousands of satellite dishes that dot Tehran’s rooftops, picking up signals that originate far beyond Iran’s borders – despite attempts to confiscate them.

For two decades, Christian television channels produced in the United States and Europe have made their way into Iranian homes. Some of this programming echoes apocalyptic ideas from American figures promoting the war, drawing on scriptural interpretations long present in evangelical teachings. Writer Hal Lindsey popularized such ideas in the 1970s with “The Late Great Planet Earth,” a best-selling book that cast Persia as the foretold antagonist in an imminent end-times conflict that would usher in Jesus’ second coming.

In my 2025 book, “Satellite Ministries: The Rise of Christian Television in the Middle East,” I show how these broadcasts became tools for spreading such messages to Christians and potential converts – positioning the region at the center of a long-running “faith war.”

Satellite missions

Of course, Christianity itself was born in the Middle East, and the region’s deep, diverse traditions long predate any Western missionary activity. Ancient communities such as the Assyrians, Copts, Maronites and Armenians have preserved their liturgical and theological heritage across generations, and form some of the oldest continuous Christian traditions in the world.

But evangelical churches have proselytized in the region for two centuries. Over the past 50 years, evangelical media outlets have flourished during moments of conflict and where weak government control has created openings for proselytism.

During the Lebanese Civil War, which took place from 1975-1991, U.S. evangelicals such as former business executive George Otis and Christian Broadcasting Network founder Pat Robertson established the channel now known as Middle East Television. The Christian network transmitted its signal from Israeli-occupied southern Lebanon from 1981 to 2000, operating in a legal gray area that bypassed Israeli and Lebanese media regulations.

The station’s primary goal was to convert Israeli Jews to Christianity and, in doing so, to help trigger a series of end‑times events. This ambition was consistent with prophetic frameworks popular in American evangelical churches at the time.

A similar pattern emerged after 9/11 and during the Iraq War that began in 2003. Like many other evangelicals, Paul Crouch, founder of the Trinity Broadcasting Network, believed the U.S. invasion was an opportunity to launch “spiritual warfare” – a battle between good and evil in the Middle East. He visited Iraq and distributed satellite television equipment so locals could receive evangelical programming in Arabic.

Many evangelicals interpreted the Iraq conflict through an apocalyptic lens, viewing the turmoil as evidence of biblical prophecy. Some, like Oklahoma pastor Mark Hitchcock, even claimed that the fall of Baghdad and the toppling of Saddam Hussein echoed scriptural descriptions of destroying “Babylon” before Christ’s return.

This proved to be a powerful fundraising tool among North American donors eager to accelerate what they saw as a divine timetable.

Persian broadcasts

In Iran, Western evangelicalism’s history dates to the 19th century. But arguably its most striking form emerged about two decades ago, when Christian networks began using new technologies to get around decades of restrictions in media and religion.

After the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the Islamic Republic allowed Armenian and Assyrian Christians to practice their ancient faiths in their own languages. The government officially recognizes them as religious minorities. However, it effectively criminalized Protestant activities in Persian, which it associated with Western missions.

Because evangelicals – a small fraction of Iran’s Christian believers – relied on Persian for worship, the prohibition led to church closures, the persecution of their leaders and a strict ban on missionary activities. Converting from Islam to another religion is illegal in Iran, and converts risk punishment.

By 2006, Christian organizations abroad turned to satellite broadcasts as an easier way of reaching Iranian audiences. Satellite dishes, though officially prohibited, were widespread and difficult for authorities to control. Tracking who actually watches these channels is extremely difficult, but producers claim that Christian broadcasts helped foster secretive house churches across Iran.

Huddled in living rooms, often guided by television programs and companion WhatsApp groups, believers held Bible studies and group prayers. Many converts kept their beliefs hidden to avoid persecution.

While precise numbers are difficult to confirm, Western governments and human rights groups have reported a rise in arrests of converts over the years. Some of those organizations say the Islamic Republic has accused converts of collaborating with foreign agents.

3 channels

As I discuss in my book, three major Persian Christian channels illustrate different approaches to this digital mission work.

SAT-7 PARS, founded by British missionary Terence Ascott and a coalition of Western evangelical organizations, adopted a cautious strategy that, according to the channel’s slogan, aimed to “make God’s love visible.” It emphasized children’s programming and shows highlighting Western ideas about women’s rights and family life. Even this softer approach faced resistance: In its early years, SAT-7’s translation offices in Tehran were repeatedly raided, staff members were detained, and translation operations were relocated to England and Cyprus.

Trinity Broadcasting Network’s Nejat, which means “salvation,” and the Christian Broadcasting Network’s Mohabat TV, which means “love,” embraced a more confrontational stance. Reza Safa, an Iranian convert who became a Pentecostal preacher in Sweden and the United States, partnered with Crouch to launch Nejat. Safa portrayed Christianity as locked in a struggle with what he called the “demonic” forces of extremist Islam.

Mohabat TV also emphasized elements of this spiritual warfare, as well as miraculous “signs and wonders.” The channel documented secret baptisms of Iranian converts.

Perhaps the most provocative development has been the introduction of Christian Zionist teachings into Iranian satellite feeds. Christian Zionism teaches that the modern state of Israel plays a central role in biblical prophecy. In recent years, Mohabat TV has aired high-production documentaries such as “In the Footsteps of Jesus,” a Persian-language film about the “Holy Land” that portrays Israel not as a political adversary, but as a nation all Christians must cherish.

Language of war

At the start of the 2026 war, the Yahsat satellite service – an Emirati carrier that hosts Persian-language Christian channels, among other feeds – experienced disruptions. The Iranian government has often been accused of jamming satellite signals.

Meanwhile, religious language about the conflict continues to escalate in American politics, with some evangelical commentators referencing apocalyptic prophecies.

Since the early 1980s, evangelical TV ministries in the region have advanced a similar message about politics, religion and the end times – under the banner of conversion.

Febe Armanios does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Christian satellite TV has broadcast evangelical faith – and end-times prophecies – into Iran for decades – https://theconversation.com/christian-satellite-tv-has-broadcast-evangelical-faith-and-end-times-prophecies-into-iran-for-decades-280349

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Heather Hensman Kettrey, Associate Professor of Sociology, Clemson University

Sexual misconduct – including sexual harassment, stalking, intimate partner violence and sexual assault – is a common problem on U.S. college campuses.

According to the 2024 Higher Education Sexual Misconduct and Awareness Survey, about 1 in 5 women and transgender or nonbinary undergraduates experienced sexual assault during college. The survey included 180,323 undergraduate, graduate and professional students across 10 schools. One in 17 undergraduate men also reported experiencing sexual assault.

Despite how common these experiences are, only 16% of sexual misconduct victims reported the incident to a school resource, like campus police or a student counseling office. Among those who did seek formal support, fewer than half found the advice or support given to be helpful.

As a sociologist, psychologist and Ph.D. student who study sexual harm, we wanted to understand how members of a campus community expected their university would support students who experience sexual misconduct.

We found that many students, whether or not they had experienced sexual misconduct themselves or knew someone who had, did not trust their university to handle these situations appropriately.

Understanding people’s perceptions

In 2022, we surveyed about 2,500 students at a large U.S. university to examine their experiences and perceptions of sexual misconduct.

Before our 2022 survey, we also conducted interviews and focus groups with a separate group of 67 students, faculty and staff at the same university. These conversations provided detailed insights that helped us better understand our survey findings.

Because we were interested in general perceptions of university support, participants did not need to have personal experience with sexual misconduct.

We asked participants how they believed their university would support students who experienced sexual assault or other forms of sexual harm.

Although our questions focused on sexual misconduct, many participants brought up how their university handled other types of harm, such as racism and anti-LGBTQ+ incidents. They used these observations to surmise how they believed university officials might respond to sexual misconduct.

Lacking trust in their schools

Research shows that anywhere between 50% to 90% of college students who experience sexual assault also feel institutional betrayal.

Institutional betrayal refers to situations in which people feel their school or another institution failed to protect them from harm or to respond adequately after harm occurred.

Both sexual misconduct and institutional betrayal are linked to anxiety, post-traumatic stress symptoms and other negative mental health outcomes.

While some participants shared their own experiences of sexual misconduct, many displayed what scholars call secondary institutional betrayal. This occurs when people feel betrayed based on how they see their institution respond to others who have been harmed.

Anticipating a negative response

Many of those we talked to said they believed their university often responded inadequately to sexual misconduct.

Participants in our interviews and focus groups also pointed to what they saw as inadequate responses to other types of harm.

For example, multiple participants described their university failing to reprimand a student group for using words like “degeneracy” and “deviant” to publicly shame LGBTQ+ students.

Participants felt that their university’s failure to address harmful behavior signaled a lack of support for victims of sexual misconduct.

“If the university isn’t going to socially advocate for these students in terms of injustice and discrimination, what makes us think that they would trust us and validate us in situations of sexual violence?” one student said.

A common theme from our interviews and focus groups was that participants believed their university avoided addressing harmful behavior because administrators prioritized the institution’s reputation over student well-being. They described the university as risk-averse, seeking to stay out of the news and avoid lawsuits.

In the words of one participant, the university does more to exercise “damage control” than to “try and help the victim.”

Different kinds of harm are connected

Our study was conducted with a small sample on a single campus.

However, we suspect that our findings may be valuable to other college campuses.

Research shows that different forms of harm are connected: Sexual misconduct is more common on campuses where more students report discrimination based on marginalized identities.

For this reason, some scholars have recommended addressing sexual misconduct and discrimination simultaneously.

This approach may become more difficult in light of a 2025 Trump administration executive order banning diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Since the order was issued, universities have largely eliminated programs that support marginalized students. For example, some campuses have closed women’s centers and multicultural centers, leaving fewer avenues to report discrimination.

Universities could explore other ways to promote inclusion and protect students from harm.

For instance, universities could hold community meetings to better understand students’ experiences of harm on campus. They could also reach out to students and other community members to gather ideas for improvement.

These suggestions are starting points and have not yet been formally tested. It is important for campus administrators and researchers to evaluate strategies that prevent harm – both physical and otherwise – and to strengthen trust across the campus community.

Heather Hensman Kettrey has received funding from the Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women. The perspectives expressed here are those of the authors and do not represent the perspectives of their employer.

Heidi Zinzow receives funding from the South Carolina Opioid Recovery Funds, the Bureau of Justice Assistance, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The perspectives expressed here are those of the authors and do not represent the perspectives of their employer.

The perspectives expressed here are those of the authors and do not represent the perspectives of their employee.

– ref. Students expect their university will mishandle sexual misconduct, if they ever report it – https://theconversation.com/students-expect-their-university-will-mishandle-sexual-misconduct-if-they-ever-report-it-279739

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Marccus D. Hendricks, Associate Professor of Urban Studies and Environmental Planning, University of Maryland

When 240 million gallons of raw sewage spilled into the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., starting in mid-January 2026 and running though mid-March, it was estimated to be the largest sewage spill in U.S. history. But it wasn’t the first, nor will it be the last.

In fact, around the nation, sewage spills are contaminating waterways and communities with unsettling frequency. Sewer systems are designed to be invisible. If toilets flush, most people forget they exist. This invisibility has contributed to chronic underinvestment. Pipes, pump stations and treatment facilities around the country were built in the mid-20th century and are now at or beyond their designed lifespan.

Between December 2019 and February 2020, a series of sewer main breaks in the city of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, led to the release of approximately 219 million gallons of raw sewage into environmentally sensitive waterways. In 2021, the Los Angeles Hyperion Water Reclamation Facility spilled 12.5 million gallons of untreated wastewater into Santa Monica Bay. These events were the results of various aspects of underinvestment, including deferred maintenance and upkeep, delayed replacement and capacities too low for current needs.

The D.C. spill dumped the equivalent of three days’ worth of sewage from 800,000 average U.S. homes, enough to fill 360 Olympic-size swimming pools with raw waste.

As an environmental planning scholar and former senior adviser for the White House Council on Environmental Quality during the implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of 2021, I have seen how serious these events can be. But any tallying of sewage spills must also include floods, disasters and heavy rainfalls that have caused backups and overflows of various sizes in cities across the country.

What causes sewer overflows?

Sewer pipes overflow when pipes crack or collapse, or when the flow is blocked and waste backs up into the streets, local waterways or even homes, spreading bacteria and other contamination wherever the water reaches.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that there are between 23,000 and 75,000 sewer overflows into the environment each year in the U.S., which does not count backups into homes and other buildings.

There are often local reports from government or nonprofit agencies, which indicate that, for instance, in Houston in 2022 and 2023 more than 1,200 sewage overflows spilled over 800,000 gallons of sewage each year. And in San Francisco, the Public Utilities Commission discharges about 1.2 billion gallons of combined stormwater runoff and sewage into San Francisco Bay each year.

But there is no nationwide reporting system, so some number of overflows are unreported. And some leaks may even go unnoticed: Many sewer systems don’t have automated leak detection systems, and many waterways don’t have continuous water quality monitoring.

There are two main categories of sewage spills.

In dry weather, the problem is usually structural. Sewage pipes can collapse or crack open because of tree roots breaking into sewer lines. Mechanical failures at pumping stations meant to keep the sewage moving also can cause backups. And spills also happen when pipes are blocked by a buildup of material – such as fats, oils, grease or so-called flushable wipes, which are not safe to flush.

In wet weather, the problem typically has to do with the amount of water flowing into the system. When rainwater enters the sewage system, or groundwater enters a cracked pipe, it can overload the line and either burst a pipe or cause a backup.

Some of the larger sewage spills in recent years have come in wet weather, especially as more extreme rainstorms become more common.

A systemic challenge

Wastewater spills rarely result from a single failure, though. There are many factors. Some involve deferred maintenance on aging systems and overlapping government jurisdictions. Environmental conditions also play a role, including more frequent and intense storms and sea-level rise. On top of that come population growth and development that often outpaces capacity of the existing systems.

I have seen how treating sewage releases as isolated incidents in need of a short-term fix misses an opportunity to strengthen the system for the long term. Response, containment, emergency repair, and remediation of spill sites and the larger system are essential. Fixing a pipe just addresses a symptom, however; I believe preventing future failures requires a strategic approach to systemwide rehabilitation.

Many sewage systems in the U.S. are not regularly surveyed or have not been surveyed completely since their construction decades ago. Without knowing the condition and actual capacity of the pipes and pump stations, it is impossible to identify areas where spills are most likely to occur, or to determine how to prevent those problems.

Assessments conducted solely by utility agencies rarely inspire public confidence. Research I have been part of has found that third-party audits or collaborations with universities and nongovernment organizations, with findings published in full, can build public trust and identify where attention is most needed.

A complicating factor is that there are often overlapping political jurisdictions with different levels of responsibility for sewer systems.

The District of Columbia’s Potomac Interceptor, the pipe that spilled so much sewage over 55 days in early 2026, is primarily operated by DC Water, a public agency independent of the district’s municipal government. But it also carries about 60 million gallons of wastewater daily from areas near Dulles Airport in Virginia and portions of Montgomery County, Maryland, to its D.C. treatment plant, which discharges treated water into the Potomac River. Local and state authorities in those areas all play roles in response, monitoring and maintenance of the system in their regions.

Each entity has its own planning, budget and priorities. The complexity can create inconsistent standards, unequal investment and gaps in emergency planning.

More storms and collapses are coming

Changing environmental conditions are a present reality. Across the Eastern Seaboard, Southeast and Midwest, heavy downpours are more intense and unpredictable. Past designs for sewage systems are not big enough to handle the amount of water involved in the most extreme storms.

Preventive investment in repairs and upgrades may lack glamour, but I believe it is far less costly and disruptive than emergency repairs.

Moreover, infrastructure failures disproportionately affect those least able to absorb the impacts. My work has found that people who live in neighborhoods whose public services are neglected in other ways are also more likely to have neglected sewer systems, including basement backups and service disruptions, often with little official attention.

The spill into the Potomac has contaminated the region of the nation’s capital; its health reflects public priorities. Fixing a sewer line and containing contamination is necessary, but I believe it can be the beginning, not the end, of a broader conversation about planning, funding and governing 21st-century infrastructure in the district and across the nation.

Marccus D. Hendricks receives funding from the JPB Environmental Health Fellowship Program at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health of Harvard University; Award ID 03055-00001, the State of Maryland through the University of Maryland Grand Challenges Program, and the National Institute On Minority Health And Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number DP2MD019355.

– ref. Washington DC’s 240 million-gallon sewage spill is a symptom of nationwide trouble – https://theconversation.com/washington-dcs-240-million-gallon-sewage-spill-is-a-symptom-of-nationwide-trouble-277720

Source: The Conversation – USA – By Michael C. Horowitz, Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania

Wars in Ukraine and the Middle East have propelled drones into the headlines. The word “drone” now stretches to cover everything from hobbyist camera rigs available on Amazon to the Predator and Reaper systems the United States has relied on to fight terrorist organizations over the past 20 years.

A common ancestor in the animal kingdom can give rise, under sufficient environmental pressure, to distinct species that demand their own classification. Drones have undergone their own rapid speciation: the one-way attack drone, the medium-altitude, long-endurance and high-altitude, long-endurance drones, the collaborative combat aircraft drone – these share a lineage and a label, but in terms of cost, range and use, increasingly little else.

Nowhere is this variation more consequential than in the category of one-way attack drones: systems designed not to return home like an airplane, but to fly directly into a target and destroy it, like a bullet or a missile. Russia and Ukraine have fired millions of these at each other since 2022, and Iran has launched thousands at United States military bases and embassies, Israel and other countries in the Middle East in 2026.

The world is now in an era we call “precise mass.” In the past, military power was often determined by size – the number of knights, soldiers, guns or tanks, depending on the era, that an army had. Since the Cold War, advanced militaries have emphasized precise munitions, such as cruise missiles, gaining advantage with fewer but more accurately targeted weapons. Inexpensive but technologically sophisticated drones bring mass and precision together.

Commercial manufacturing, precision guidance and advances in artificial intelligence and autonomy have democratized the ability of militaries and militant groups to accurately strike their adversaries. This includes first-person-view, or FPV, drones – a type of one-way attack drone with interfaces like video games – that groups aligned with Iran are already using to target American forces in the Middle East.

One-way attack drones

One-way attack drones have featured most prominently in the war between Russia and Ukraine, and in the Middle East today. The first category of one-way attack drones is longer range and can travel hundreds or even thousands of miles to strike targets deep in an adversary’s territory. They are like extremely cheap cruise missiles – Iran’s Shahed-136 one-way attack drone, for instance, has a reported range of up to 1,250 miles (2,000 km) and costs between US$20,000 and $50,000 each. In comparison, America’s Tomahawk cruise missile costs $2 million each.

Russia acquired the Shahed technology almost immediately after Iran debuted it in 2022, creating its own version, the Geran-2, and has since used these drones to pummel Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure. Most recently, the U.S. military has followed Russia’s lead and reverse-engineered its own version, the LUCAS, which debuted in the earliest days of Operation Epic Fury, the U.S. military operation against Iran that started on Feb. 28, 2026.

Since late February 2026, Tehran has fired thousands of one-way attack drones at targets across the Middle East. Iran’s one-way attack drones have hit buildings in Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, and damaged the United States Embassy in Saudi Arabia. The UAE alone was targeted by nearly 700 Iranian drones in the war’s early days. Iran’s one-way attack drones have killed U.S. service members and destroyed critical American radar systems.

Because long-range, one-way attack drones are so slow, they are easier to shoot down than, say, a Tomahawk missile, but attackers can fire so many of them that they can overwhelm air defense systems.

The second category of one-way attack drones operates more like traditional artillery – typically from short distances, up to about 100 miles (160 km). Ukraine’s battlefield has showcased these systems extensively, where they generate 60%-70% of the casualties on the front lines.

FPV drones

One of the most common types of short-range, one-way attack drones is the FPV drone, sometimes built for a few hundred dollars each from commercial parts purchased online. In Ukraine, operators wearing video goggles fly FPV drones directly into Russian vehicles, fortifications and troops, and they feature guidance interfaces for remote operators that are not dissimilar to those of first-person video games.

FPV drones are not magic. Operating them requires a continuous data link between the operator and the drone, making them vulnerable to electronic jamming that can disrupt radio signals. To address this vulnerability, many Ukrainian FPV drones now use physical communication lines in the form of fiber-optic cables to avoid jamming, but the cables can be cut, and that limits the range of these systems. FPV drones with fiber-optic cables have ranges of about 12 miles (20 km). Effectively using FPV drones also requires skilled operators.

America and Israel’s war with Iran hit the pause button on April 7, but if it starts again and the U.S. deploys ground forces, they would likely face the kind of short-range, one-way attack drone barrages that have come to terrorize both Russian and Ukrainian forces alike.

The threat has proved so hard to stop that Ukraine has resorted to low-tech solutions: Hundreds of kilometers of roads are now covered with nets, donated by European fishermen and farmers. The nets stop FPV drones by tangling their propellers. Nets cover tanks and hospital courtyards and line supply routes and city streets. Ukraine’s government plans to install about 2,500 miles (4,000 km) of them on key roads by the end of 2026.

Iranian forces could similarly deploy one-way attack drones against American convoys, personnel or parked aircraft in ways that are difficult to defend against. Additionally, just as American adversaries such as ISIS and al-Qaida used video footage of attacks to try to scare the American public, Iran is likely to use FPV strike footage – the operator’s-eye view of the attack, easily edited and uploaded – to try to shape American attitudes.

In March 2026, an Iran-backed militia used FPV drones to strike a parked U.S. Army medevac Black Hawk helicopter and destroy an air defense radar at the Victory Base Complex near Baghdad. The attackers then released footage from the drone’s perspective as propaganda, blurring out the red crosses identifying the Black Hawk as a medevac aircraft.

The new reality

Short-range, one-way attack drones have redefined the front lines; long-range ones have changed what it means to wage war at strategic distances. Iran’s battlefield record – thousands of drones launched, air defenses nearing exhaustion across multiple targeted countries, American troops killed – demonstrates what a mid-tier military can achieve with precise mass.

Any military that fails to invest in these capabilities – and in the ability to defend against them – places itself at risk, including the U.S. military.

Michael C. Horowitz is a senior fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations. From 2022 to 2024 he was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense and Director of the Emerging Capabilities Policy Office at the United States Department of Defense.
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in an article are solely those of the author and do not represent the official policy, position, or endorsement of any U.S. government department, agency, or branch of service

Lauren Kahn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. One-way attack drones: Low-cost, high-tech weapons ‘democratize’ precision warfare – https://theconversation.com/one-way-attack-drones-low-cost-high-tech-weapons-democratize-precision-warfare-280364

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Katrina Stack, Ph.D. Candidate in Human Geography, University of Tennessee

Within moments of entering the Newport Renaissance Faire, you are ushered to a group of fairies. They pass you a scroll and say, “You must seek out the Bone Man for the first hurdle in your quest.” As you navigate the fair, you find many men dressed in bones, both vendors and fellow attendees. When you find the correct Bone Man – an actor wearing what appears to be a mask made of human skull along with a crown constructed from deer antlers – he stamps your scroll. He then sends you to your next target: the Drunk Viking.

Following the directions of actors in the fair, you meet a variety of performers from many historical eras and fantastic realms, and stumble upon both merchants and merrymakers in your journey. It’s all part of the immersive experience that connects you with the other guests and staff, though many of the costumed staff members, speaking in faux Middle English, are also trying to sell you something.

Renaissance fairs were originally conceived as a creative refuge for artists sidelined by political repression during the Red Scare. Now, they sit at an uneasy crossroads between countercultural expression and commercial spectacle. Having grown into a nationwide industry with tiered tickets, branded merchandise and multimillion dollar valuations, the fairs can easily be seen as an offshoot of a corporate theme park.

As cultural geographers, we wanted to learn more about whether the spirit of the fairs has been changing. So for our recent study, we visited the Tennessee Renaissance Festival, Newport Renaissance Faire, Tennessee Medieval Faire and Tennessee Pirate Fest.

Once upon a time … not so long ago

Although renaissance fairs and festivals recreate the atmosphere of centuries past, the first formally recognized fair took place in May 1963 in Irwindale, California. A public school English and history teacher named Phyllis Patterson was the brains behind the event, which she dubbed the Renaissance Pleasure Faire.

For Patterson, the fair was a chance to celebrate the era’s countercultural values like free expression, experimentation with identity and creative play. It also served as a source of employment for those who had been pushed out of their careers in the film and entertainment industries after being blacklisted or graylisted as suspected communists.

Patterson herself had refused to sign a Cold War–era loyalty oath required to work in California public schools. At the Renaissance Pleasure Faire, actors, educators and set designers could continue their craft, whether that meant designing costumes, creating characters, performing or writing.

From creative refuge to thriving business

Since those first events in Southern California, renaissance fairs have spread across the U.S., with some constructing permanent structures even though they’re only open seasonally, in the spring or fall. Built to resemble small villages, fair operators create towns-within-towns, fantasy lands where visitors can briefly step away from their routines and obligations.

Their popularity continues to grow, and what began partly as a creative refuge has grown into a thriving entertainment business.

The East Tennessee Renaissance Faire recently announced that it would be relocating after deciding that its original venue in Newport could no longer accommodate the swelling crowds: Within three years, the fair had grown from 600 to 6,000 attendees, spurring a move to a larger site in neighboring Sevierville. New fairs are sprouting up as well: The Chattanooga Renaissance Faire will host its inaugural season in spring 2026.

There are almost always entry fees – US$38 at the Tennessee Renaissance Festival and $53 at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire, for example – and many offer season passes.

Attendees often arrive in costume, but strict rules about adhering to a specific time period or setting rarely apply.

Some visitors dress as Tolkien-style elves, while others show up as Tudor nobles. Viking-clad participants walk alongside fairies and swashbuckling pirates. Some fairs have also developed their own themed weekends – with names like “Viking Victory,” “Fantasy and Folklore,” “Pirate Plunder” and “Celtic Celebration” – that weave history and fiction with few constraints. And those committed to their role will often address each other in playful faux-medieval speech, with greetings like “my lady” or “my lord.”

Vendors, often dressed in costume themselves, sell everything from cloaks, swords and crowns to contemporary jewelry and shampoos. Booths sell era-adjacent fare like Scotch eggs, ciders, mead and turkey legs, while modern cocktails like “The Shipwreck” and “The Blueberry Faerie” can also be had, with visitors paying the equivalent of stadium and arena concession prices.

Renaissance fairs have even spread to countries like Germany and France, reconnecting with their roots. The expansion into new venues – along with the development of offshoots such as pirate- and steampunk-themed festivals – point to profit margins that would have been unthinkable in the early days of the Renaissance Pleasure Faire.

But as with many ventures, the prospect of cashing in comes with complications.

The 2024 HBO Max series “Ren Faire” introduced viewers to the eccentrics and costume-clad vendors involved in the nation’s largest fair, the Texas Renaissance Festival in Todd Mission. The fight over its future involved lawsuits and, eventually, the court-ordered $60 million sale of the event’s property and assets.

King Richard’s Faire, which takes place in Carver, Massachusetts, and is the largest fair in New England, reportedly generates massive daily revenue while allegedly relying on widespread worker misclassification, leaving many performers earning below minimum wage without benefits. Even volunteer “villagers” work only for free admission, and both workers and attendees receive no compensation or refunds when the fair closes due to rain.

Seeking out a space of whimsy

Despite the creeping influence of profit motives, we concluded that renaissance fairs have always been – and continue to be – mostly about community.

Dressing as a fantastical version of yourself or your favorite character bonds you to others dressed up at the festival. Unlike popular Civil War or World War II reenactments where historical accuracy is paramount, renaissance fairs instead invite people to take part in shared, often mythologized ideas about history through performance, costume and play.

For example, each weekend, the Tennessee Renaissance Festival organizes jousts. Competitors and their horses meet at a permanent jousting pitch located at the back of the property. Each knight represents a noble house, and each section of the bleachers is assigned a knight to root for. Announcers explain the rules of each event, while also leading the crowds in chants and cheers. While the knights might fight under titles tied to historical lineages, they represent a jumble of eras and place. They also reject antiquated social norms by including women and ethnic groups who never would have been seen together on a jousting pitch.

Here, fidelity to the facts is an afterthought; it actually might ruin the fun.

Beyond the jousting pitch, you can find the queen dictating a game of human chess. A rotating cast of performers play music, tell jokes, juggle and blow fire. Elsewhere, you might stumble across pixies teaching children how to make fairy homes or relax in a mermaid’s magical grotto.

There’s also a comforting simplicity in the narratives of this make-believe world. Ladies are almost always gentle and beautiful, while the men are brave and noble. All the villains are easy to spot – they’re always defeated.

In a real world characterized by political upheaval, information overload, invisible surveillance and shadowy villains, perhaps the fair, with its simple prism of good and evil, becomes a space of comfort – a curated cultural experiment that’s also an improvised escape.

In other words, renaissance fairs wield a quiet power: They forge communities that deliberately blur fantasy, history and everyday life with a wink. Vendors, performers and attendees alike can be Tudors, Vikings, hobbits, elves or mermaids for a day. Few actually believe in elves, or imagine their mock-Elizabethan speech is anything more than cheerful, mangled guesswork.

And that’s the point. There’s joy in pretending – just as there’s a universal pleasure in the weird, the whimsical and the absurd.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. As renaissance fairs become big business, can they retain their counterculture roots? – https://theconversation.com/as-renaissance-fairs-become-big-business-can-they-retain-their-counterculture-roots-273757