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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 demonstrate how rituals create and maintain - or transform - a society's cultural identity and social relations. By examining specific rituals from various theoretical viewpoints, they reveal the ultimate and contradictory values to which each society as a whole is attached

The analysis of talk is important for Goffman's examination of the self in face-to-face interaction. Here I suggest that his target is best described as being our ritual talk. Goffman defined ritual in two ways: as the smooth running of everyday encounters and as the honouring of the selves who people them. He suggested that ritual talk is structured by both prevailing rules of social interaction and by the sequential organization of talk. However, on occasion he hinted that this account is too simple. I agree, and suggest ways of furthering his investigations.

Cover -- Contents -- Introduction -- PART ONE | CHIHAMBA THE WHITE SPIRIT: A RITUAL DRAMA OF THE NDEMBU -- 1. Chihamba the White Spirit -- 2. Some Notes on the Symbolism of Chihamba -- 3. Some White Symbols in Literature and Religion -- PART TWO | NDEMBU DIVINATION: ITS SYMBOLISM AND TECHNIQUES -- 4. A Preliminary Analysis of Ndembu Divinatory Symbolism -- 5. Some Kinds and Methods of Ndembu Divination -- Appendix -- Bibliographical References -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y -- Z

Ritual communication extends beyond collective religious expression. It is an intrinsic part of everyday interactions, ceremonies, theatrical performances, shamanic chants, political demonstrations and rites of passage. This title examines how people create and express meaning through verbal and non-verbal ritual

I am fascinated by the potential for moments to reveal broader themes within media and everyday life. In this short article, I use autoethnography to explore the aural ritual of listening to a memorial tribute to media celebrities on nightly television news. I hope this article encourages others to use sensory investigation as a methodological tool within the autoethnographic tradition in communication research.

The year 1980 witnessed the publication of the two seminal books by Burton Stein on the Segmentary State in medieval South India and by Clifford Geertz on the Theatre State in nineteenth-century Bali. Whereas in previous decades the debates on rituals and the state in India and "Indianized" Southeast Asia had been dominated by the endeavour to define royal cults and "ancient Indian kingship from the religious point of view", as known from the title of J. Gonda's famous monograph, the concepts of the segmentary and theatre states contain (at least partly) radically new definitions of the nature and function of royal rituals. Stein invented and defined "ritual sovereignty", a kind of state ideology of the Great Kings (maharaja)of South India, as fundamentally different from "actual political control" exercised by numerous Little Kings, and Geertz reduced the pre-colonial kingdoms of Bali to an arena for the performance of royally sponsored mass rituals. In view of the sometimes heated debates on these concepts, the present panel "Rituals and the State in India" and its contributions attempt a re-evaluation of the nature of kingly rituals on the "imperial" as well as local level and their relationship with state formation and the state in India. My introductory historiographic reflections about ritual sovereignty and ritual policy are primarily a critical evaluation of the definition of state rituals in Geertz's theatre state and in particular of Stein's concept of ritual sovereignty and its important modifications. The issue at stake is the question whether royal rituals are mere cultural-ideological performances or also a means of an intended ritual policy to legitimise and enhance political control and power.

"This book explores the role of ritual in social life, human evolution, and religion. It explains the functions and purpose of varied rituals across the world by arguing they are mechanisms of 'resource management', providing a descriptive tool for understanding rituals and generating predictions about ritual survival. By showing how rituals have resulted from the need to cultivate social resources necessary to sustain cooperative groups, Rossano presents a unique examination of the function of rituals and how they cultivate, mobilize, and direct psychological resources. Rossano examines rituals from a diverse range of historical contexts, including the Greco-Romans, Soviet Russians, and those in 'crisis cults'. The book shows how rituals address societal and community problems by cultivating three psychological resources - commitment to communal values, goodwill (both of humans and supernatural agents) and social support or social capital. Holding communities together in the face of threat, disaster, or apathy is one of ritual's primary functions, and the author describes how our ancestors used ritual to become the highly social, inter-dependent primate that is Homo sapiens. Including examples from all over the world and providing detailed descriptions of both past and current ritual practices, this is fascinating reading for students and academics in psychology, sociology, religion, anthropology, and sociology"--

Die allgemeine Problematik "Identität - Rituale - Sprache" wird diskutiert. Aus phänomenologischer und kritischer Perspektive werden folgende Aspekte behandelt: (1) die Aufgaben des Historikers, der sich mit Riten befaßt; (2) Funktionen von Ritualen im historischen Prozeß; (3) Jubiläen als Anlaß von Ritualen im öffentlichen Raum und (4) Volkskultur und Brauchtum als Anlaß von Riten. Es wird gezeigt, daß Rituale einen enormen Stellenwert für die Ausbildung deformierten Geschichtsbewußtseins besitzen. Der verhängnisvolle Zusammenhang von Volkskultur, Brauchtum und konservativen Politikstrategien wird erläutert. (HA)