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Ritual theorizing has tended to focus on perfect rituals, as prescribed in sacred texts, yet ritual mistakes occur all the time--crucial items can go missing or get broken, incorrect phrases can be said. In this book, Kathryn McClymond examines cases in which rituals have gone wrong, embracing the fact that, in fact, they rarely go as planned. From ancient India to modern Iraq, Ritual Gone Wrong demonstrates that ritual disruptions throughout history reveal the fluid, supple, and dynamic nature of ritual.
Buddhists, Shamans, and Soviets examines indigenous, post-Soviet religious revival in the Republic of Buryatia through the lens of Bakhtin's chronotope. Comparing histories from Buddhist, shamanic and civic rituals, Quijada offers a new lens for analyzing ritual and an innovative approach to the ethnographic study of how people know their past.
Voices of the Ritual analyzes the revival of rituals performed at female saint shrines in the Middle East, highlighting the ways in which members of minority religious groups have laid claim to space through rituals enacted at sacred spaces in the Holy Land. Using ethnographic analysis, Stadler tracks the popularity of the rituals and the themes of female materiality they are often grounded in.
This book explores the way in which singing can foster experiences of belonging through ritual performance. Based on more than two decades of ethnographic, pedagogical and musical research, it is set against the backdrop of "the new Ireland" of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Charting Ireland's growing multiculturalism, changing patterns of migration, the diminished influence of Catholicism, and synergies between indigenous and global forms of cultural expression, it explores rights and rites of belonging in contemporary Ireland. Helen Phelan examines a range of religious, educational, civic and community-based rituals including religious rituals of new migrant communities in "borrow...
Rites of the God-King offers a critical revision of mainstream Hinduism from the perspective of the life of a single ritual from medieval India. Drawing theoretical connections to modern ethnographies, it raises questions about the nature of kingship and priesthood, image-worship, and ritual change.
What exactly is “ritual” and why is it inherently a part of Christian public worship? Could we worship without ritual? Does the Christian tradition offer us any perspectives on ritual? These are the questions explored in this book, whose purpose is to serve as a “user’s guide” to ritual for leaders and planners of Christian worship. With the help of various perspectives—the life sciences, the Bible, and Reformation theologians—it seeks to explain ritual objectively, winsomely, and sympathetically. Written by a scholar with many years of experience in teaching liturgics, this book will help readers to appreciate ritual and become comfortable with themselves as participants in ritual.
Are the richness and diversity of rituals and celebrations in South Asia unique? Can we speak of a homo ritualis when it comes to India or Hinduism? Are Indians or Hindus more involved in rituals than other people? If so, what makes them special? Homo Ritualis is the first book to present a Hindu theory of rituals. Based on extensive textual studies and field-work in Nepal and India, Axel Michaels argues that ritual is a distinctive way of acting, which, as in the theater, can be distinguished from other forms of action. The book analyzes ritual in these cultural-specific and religious contexts, taking into account how indigenous terms and theories affect and contribute to current ritual theory. It describes and investigates various forms of Hindu rituals and festivals, such as life-cycle rituals, the Vedic sacrifice, vows processions, and the worship of deities (puja). It also examines conceptual components of (Hindu) rituals such as framing, formality, modality, and theories of meaning.
In this Very Short Introduction, Barry Stephenson approaches ritual from theoretical and historical perspectives, detailing the efforts to understand the nature and function of ritual, and developing a narrative of ritual's place in social and cultural life.
Can subalterns transform themselves into members of the elite, and what does it take to do so? And how do those efforts reveal the nature of ethnic politics in postcolonial Africa? How to Become a Big Man in Africa: Subalternity, Elites, and Ethnic Politics in Contemporary Nigeria examines these questions by revealing how, through ethno-regional conflict, violence and cultural activities, an artisan, Gani Adams, transformed himself into the holder of the most prestigious chieftaincy title among the Yoruba. Addressing persistent gaps in anthropological studies of the subaltern and of "big men" in politics through in-depth biography and rich social history, Wale Adebanwi follows Adams and othe...
In The Netherlands, the arts have gained a sacralized status, while religion is increasingly viewed through the lens of heritage. The dynamic resonance of sacred forms this results in, is exemplary for the postsecular. Exploring this resonance, this book offers a strong counterweight to the popular trope of the arts having replaced religion in secularized societies. Instead it approaches artistic performance, religion, and its heritage as mutually engaging sacred forms. Lieke Wijnia thoroughly connects theoretical perspectives on the sacred with ethnographic research at the annual festival Musica Sacra Maastricht. She explores the continued relevance of a broad conceptual approach to the sac...