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| Understanding Rituals Edited by Daniel de Coppet, Occult Library |
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[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] Understanding rituals Rituals are at the core of the social identity of all communities. Yet each society varies in its view of what is ritual and what is not. Understanding Rituals explores how ritual can be understood within the framework of contemporary social anthropology, and shows that ritual is now one of the most fertile fields of anthropological research. The contributors look at ritual as a special kind of performance, which is both an act and a statement. They discuss the views of Frazer, Van Gennep, Robertson Smith and Marcel Mauss, and explore the different aspects of ritual activity in order to question the validity of current theories. They also analyse specific rituals taken from a wide range of societies: they link Vedic times to the present situation in India, a Christianized Moluccan society to its still current pre-Christian social structure and values, contrast the different modes of participation in a Nuba village in Sudan, and describe the confrontation between Punjabi and English communities in a London suburb. Understanding Rituals shows how rituals create and maintain— or transform—a society’s cultural identity and social relations. By examining these rituals, both in particular and in general, the contributors enable us to discover the ultimate and contradictory values to which each society as a whole is attached. The book will therefore be of great value to all students and teachers of social anthropology and cultural studies. Daniel de Coppet is Directeur d’Etudes at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris. EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGISTS The European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) was inaugurated in January 1989, in response to a widely felt need for a professional association which would represent social anthropologists in Europe and foster co-operation and interchange in teaching and research. As Europe transforms itself in the nineties, the EASA is dedicated to the renewal of the distinctive European tradition in social anthropology. Other titles in the series Conceptualizing Society Adam Kuper Revitalizing European Rituals Jeremy Boissevain Other Histories Kirsten Hastrup Alcohol, Gender and Culture Dimitra Gefou-Madianou Understanding rituals Edited by Daniel de Coppet London and New York [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |