Download or read book Ritual written by Dimitris Xygalatas and published by Little, Brown Spark. This book was released on 2022-09-13 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A pioneering anthropologist takes readers on a 'fascinating, well-researched' (Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE) journey through the rich tapestry of human ritual—showing how and why our most irrational behaviors are a key driver of our success." Ritual is one of the oldest, and certainly most enigmatic, threads in the history of human culture. It presents a profound paradox: people ascribe the utmost importance to their rituals, but few can explain why they are so important. Apparently pointless ceremonies pervade every documented society, from handshakes to hexes, hazings to parades. Before we ever learned to farm, we were gathering in giant stone temples to perform elaborate rites and ceremonies. And yet, though rituals exist in every culture and can persist nearly unchanged for centuries, their logic has remained a mystery—until now. In Ritual, pathfinding scientist Dimitris Xygalatas leads us on an enlightening tour through this shadowy realm of human behavior. Armed with cutting-edge technology and drawing on discoveries from a wide range of disciplines, he presents a powerful new perspective on our place in the world. In birthday parties and coronations, in silent prayer, in fire-walks and terrifying rites of passage, in all the bewildering variety of human life, Ritual reveals the deep and subtle mechanisms that bind us together.
Download or read book Ritual written by Robbie Davis-Floyd and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2022-09-13 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Designed for both academic and lay audiences, this book identifies the characteristics of ritual and, via multiple examples, details how ritual works on the human body and brain to produce its often profound effects. These include enhancing courage, effecting healing, and generating group cohesion by enacting cultural—or individual—beliefs and values. It also shows what happens when ritual fails.
Download or read book Ritual and Belief written by David Hicks and published by Rowman Altamira. This book was released on 2010-03-15 with total page 538 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ritual and Belief: Readings in the Anthropology of Religion is a collection of 41 readings in religion, magic, and witchcraft. The choice of readings is eclectic: no single anthropological approach or theoretical perspective dominates the text. Theoretical significance, scholarly eminence of the author, and inherent interest provide the principal criteria, and each reading complements its companion chapters, which are pedagogically coherent rather than ad hoc assemblages. Included among the theoretical perspectives are structural-functionalism, structuralism, Malinowskian functionalism, cultural materialism, and cultural evolutionism; also included are the synchronic and diachronic approaches. The book offers a mixture of classic readings and more recent contributions, and the 'world religions' are included along with examples from the religions of traditionally non-literate cultures. As diverse a range of religious traditions as possible has been embraced, from various ethnic groups, traditions, and places.
Download or read book The Light on the Lagoon written by Isabel Constance Clarke and published by . This book was released on 1921 with total page 438 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Hidden Powers of Ritual written by Bradd Shore and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2023-12-12 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An illuminating overview of the development, benefits, and importance of ritual in everyday life, written by a leading cognitive anthropologist. The Hidden Powers of Ritual is an engaging introduction to ritual studies that presents ritual as an evolved form of human behavior of almost unimaginable significance to our species. Every day across the globe, people gather to share meals, brew caffeinated beverages, or honor their ancestors. In this book, Bradd Shore, a respected anthropologist, reaches beyond familiar “big-R” rituals to present life’s humbler, overshadowed moments, exploring everything from the Balinese pelebon to baseball to family Zoom sessions in the age of Covid to the sobering reenactment rituals surrounding the Moore’s Ford lynchings. In each ritual, Shore shows how our capacity to ritualize behavior is a remarkable part of the human story. Encompassing both the commonly unlabeled “interaction rituals” studied by sociologists and the symbolically elaborated sacred rituals of religious studies, Shore organizes his conception around detailed case studies drawn from international research and personal experience, weaving scholarship with a memoir of a life encompassed by ritual. A probing exploration that matches breadth with accessibility, The Hidden Powers of Ritual is a provocative contribution to ritual theory that will appeal to a wide range of readers curious about why these unique repetitive acts matter in our lives.
Download or read book Rituals of Respect written by Inge Bolin and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2010-06-28 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In the remoteness of their mountain retreat, the herders of Chillihuani, Peru, recognize that respect for others is the central and most significant element of all thought and action," observes Inge Bolin. "Without respect, no society, no civilization, can flourish for long. Without respect, humanity is doomed and so is the earth, sustainer of all life." In this beautifully written ethnography, Bolin describes the rituals of respect that maintain harmonious relations among people, the natural world, and the realm of the gods in an isolated Andean community of llama and alpaca herders that reaches up to 16,500 feet. Bolin was the first foreigner to visit Chillihuani, and she was permitted to participate in private family rituals, as well as public ceremonies. In turn, she allows the villagers to explain the meaning of their rituals in their own words. From these first-hand experiences, Bolin offers an intimate portrait of an annual ritual cycle that dates back to Inca and pre-Inca times, including the ancient Pukllay; weddings; the Fiesta de Santiago, with its horse races on the top of the world; and Peru's Independence Day, when the Rituals of Respect for elders and young people alike are carried out within male and female hierarchies reminiscent of Inca times.
Download or read book Ecstasy Ritual and Alternate Reality written by Felicitas D. Goodman and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 1988-12-22 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A cross-disciplinary exploration of comparative religion that offers a “unified field theory” of religion as human behavior. In this book, anthropologist and spiritual explorer Felicitas Goodman examines ritual, the religious trance, alternate reality, ethics and moral code, and the named category designating religion. The analysis is divided into two sections. The first reviews species-wide human traits that form the basis for religious behavior. Goodman, in speculative examination, traces the origins of religion to the dawn of human history, when religious ritual was accompanied by gesture rather than full-fledged modern speech. Ritual is seen as being the expression of the vastness of the drama of human life, death, birth, and procreation. The common neurophysiological basis for religious experience is seen to be a particular type of brain “tuning,” the religious altered state of consciousness, a trance facilitating contact with an alternate reality. The content of this other reality is shown to vary according to the type of adaptation to the habitat. The second section describes the religious systems of the world, dividing them according to societal type. A systematic comparison shows that religions vary according to whether people are hunter-gatherers, horticulturalists, agriculturalists, nomadic pastoralists, or city dwellers. “An important book which deserves the careful attention of serious students of religion.” —Religious Studies Review “Very few such global interpretations are ever attempted—and this one succeeds . . . The book’s importance is in the interpretation as well as in the rich data base materials the book presents.” —Willard Johnson
Download or read book Ritual Politics and Power written by David I. Kertzer and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1988-01-01 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the history and purpose of political rituals, discusses examples from Aztec cannibal rites to presidential inauguration, and argues that the use of ritual determines the success of political groups.
Download or read book In the Realm of Nachan Kan written by Marilyn A. Masson and published by University Press of Colorado. This book was released on 2015-04-01 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The prevailing view of the lowland Maya during the Postclassic period (A.D. 1050-1500) has been one of an impoverished, "degenerated" society devoid of cultural accomplishment. However, Marilyn A. Masson offers a fresh interpretation of this society as one that represented a complex, sophisticated, extensive organization of semiautonomous units that were closely integrated, yet embraced a decentralized political economy. In the Realm of Nachan Kan opens a window on Postclassic Maya patterns of cultural development and organization through a close examination of the small rural island of Laguna de On, a location that was distant from the governing political centers of the day. Using diachronic analysis of regional settlement patterns, ceramic traditions, household and ritual features, and artifacts from the site, Masson tracks developmental changes throughout the Postclassic period. These data suggest that affluent patterns of economic production and local and long-distance exchange were established within northern Belize by the eleventh century, and continued to develop, virtually uninterrupted, until the time of Spanish arrival. In addition, Masson analyzes contemporary political and religious artistic traditions at the temples of Mayapan, Tulum, and Santa Rita to provide a regional context for the changes in community patterns at Laguna de On. These cultural changes, she maintains, are closely correlated with the rise of Mayapan to power and participation of sites like Laguna de On in a pan-lowland economic and ritual interaction sphere. Offering a thoroughly new interpretation of Postclassic Mayan civilization. In the Realm of Nachan Kan is a must for scholars of Mesoamerican history and culture.
Download or read book The Cultural Dynamics of Shell matrix Sites written by Mirjana Roksandic and published by University of New Mexico Press. This book was released on 2014 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The contributors to this book introduce new ways to study shell-matrix sites, ranging from the geochemical analysis of shellfish to the interpretation of human remains buried within. Drawing upon examples from around the world, this is one of the only books to offer a global perspective on the archaeology of shell-matrix sites.
Download or read book Perspectives on the Ancient Maya of Chetumal Bay written by Debra S. Walker and published by University Press of Florida. This book was released on 2016-10-04 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Brings novel, synthetic insight to understanding a region that was a hub of waterborne trade and an important locus of production for some of the Maya’s most valued crops."--Cynthia Robin, author of Everyday Life Matters: Maya Farmers at Chan "This one of a kind volume shows us how important this region was to the ancient Maya with detailed and vivid descriptions of sociopolitical and economic organization and their relation to the unique landscape and geography of Chetumal Bay."--Laura J. Kosakowsky, author of Preclassic Maya Pottery at Cuello, Belize Chetumal Bay is central to discussions of ancient Maya politics, warfare, economy, exchange and communication because of its unique location. Although the ancient Maya invested prodigious amounts of labor in the construction of road systems called sacbeob for communication and trade, recent archaeological discoveries around Chetumal Bay in both Belize and Mexico reveal an economic alternative to these roads: an extensive network of riverine and maritime waterways. Focusing on sites ringing the bay such as Cerro Maya, Oxtankah, and Santa Rita Corozal, the contributors to this volume explore how the bay and its feeder rivers affected all aspects of Maya culture from settlement, food production, and the production and use of special goods to political relationships and social organization. Besides being a nexus for long distance exchange in valuable materials such as jade and obsidian, the region was recognized for its high quality agricultural produce, including cacao, achiote, vanilla, local fruits, honey, and salt, and for its rich marine environment. The Maya living on the fringes of the bay perceived the entire region as a single resource procurement zone. Waterborne trade brought the world to them, providing a wider horizon than would have been available to inland cities dependent only on Maya roads for news of the world. The research reveals that trade relations played a central role in the organization of human social life on Chetumal Bay. Contributors: James Aimers | Timothy Beach | Clifford Brown | Beverly A. Chiarulli | Lisa G. Duffy | Dori Farthing | David A. Freidel | Elizabeth Graham | Thomas Guderjan | Elizabeth Haussner | Linda Howie | Samantha Krause | Javier López Camacho | Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach | Marc D. Marino | Lucas R. Martindale Johnson | Heather McKillop | Nathan J. Meissner | Emiliano Ricardo Melgar Tísoc | Susan Milbrath | Satoru Murata | Maxine Oland | Terry Powis | Kathryn Reese-Taylor | Robin Robertson | Luis A. Torres Díaz | Araceli Vázquez Villegas | Debra S. Walker
Download or read book Landscapes of Death Early Bronze Age Tombs and Mortuary Rituals on the Oman Peninsula written by Kimberly D. Williams and published by Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2024-02-15 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a comprehensive and detailed review of the evidence for Early Bronze Age mortuary rituals on the Oman Peninsula, describing the research conducted, synthesizing the resulting data, and presenting a complete view of the state of knowledge on the topic.
Download or read book Decolonizing Indigenous Histories written by Maxine Oland and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Decolonizing Indigenous Histories makes a vital contribution to the decolonization of archaeology by recasting colonialism within long-term indigenous histories. Showcasing case studies from Africa, Australia, Mesoamerica, and North and South America, this edited volume highlights the work of archaeologists who study indigenous peoples and histories at multiple scales. The contributors explore how the inclusion of indigenous histories, and collaboration with contemporary communities and scholars across the subfields of anthropology, can reframe archaeologies of colonialism. The cross-cultural case studies employ a broad range of methodological strategies—archaeology, ethnohistory, archival research, oral histories, and descendant perspectives—to better appreciate processes of colonialism. The authors argue that these more complicated histories of colonialism contribute not only to understandings of past contexts but also to contemporary social justice projects. In each chapter, authors move beyond an academic artifice of “prehistoric” and “colonial” and instead focus on longer sequences of indigenous histories to better understand colonial contexts. Throughout, each author explores and clarifies the complexities of indigenous daily practices that shape, and are shaped by, long-term indigenous and local histories by employing an array of theoretical tools, including theories of practice, agency, materiality, and temporality. Included are larger integrative chapters by Kent Lightfoot and Patricia Rubertone, foremost North American colonialism scholars who argue that an expanded global perspective is essential to understanding processes of indigenous-colonial interactions and transitions.
Download or read book Rituals of Prosecution written by Jane K. Wickersham and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2012-01-01 with total page 441 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the Counter-Reformation, inquisition manual authors working in Italian lands adapted the Catholic Church's traditional tactics of inquisitorial procedure, which had been formulated in the medieval period, to the prosecution of philo-Protestants. Through a comparison of the texts of four such authors to contemporary inquisition processes, Jane K. Wickersham situates the Roman inquisition's prosecution of philo-Protestants within the larger framework of the complex religious upheavals of the sixteenth century. Identifying the critical role played by ritual practice in discovering and prosecuting heretical subjects, Wickersham uncovers two core reasons for its use: first, as a practical means of prosecuting a variety of philo-Protestant beliefs, and second, as an approach firmly grounded within the Catholic Church's history of prosecuting heresy. Finally, Rituals of Prosecution provides an in-depth examination of the inquisitorial processes of urban residents from humble socio-economic backgrounds, providing new insight into how the prosecution of ordinary people was conducted in the early modern era.
Download or read book Community Identity written by Sebastian Kim and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2007-11-01 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the influence of religious identity on the wider social community from the perspective of theology and religious studies.
Download or read book Gendering the Master Narrative written by Mary Carpenter Erler and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new economy of power relations: female agency in the middle ages / Mary C. Erler and Maryanne Kowaleski -- Women and power through the family revisited / Jo Ann McNamara -- Women and confession: from empowerment to pathology / Dyan Elliott -- "With the heat of the hungry heart": empowerment and Ancrene wisse / Nicholas Watson -- Powers of record, powers of example: hagiography and women's history / Jocelyn Wogan-Browne -- Who is the master of this narrative? Maternal patronage of the cult of St. Margaret / Wendy R. Larson -- "The wise mother": the image of St. Anne teaching the Virgin Mary / Pamela Sheingorn -- Did goddesses empower women? the case of dame nature / Barbara Newman -- Women in the late medieval English parish / Katherine L. French -- Public exposure? consorts and ritual in late medieval Europe: the example of the entrance of the dogaresse of Venice / Holly S. Hurlburt -- Women's influence on the design of urban homes / Sarah Rees Jones -- Looking closely: authority and intimacy in the late medieval urban home / Felicity Riddy.
Download or read book Ecology and Rituals in Tribal Areas written by Debashis Debnath and published by Sarup & Sons. This book was released on 2003 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Western And Indian Social- Cultural Anthropologists Contributed Much In Developing The Theories Of Primitive Or Tribal Religion. In Course Of Time The Ecological Anthropologists Have Extended Further Those Concepts, More Specifically The Ritualistic Functions, In The Analysis Of Human Adaptability Within An Ecosystem. Combining The Two This Book Deals With A Comparative Analysis Of Religious Live Of The Five Tribal Groups Living In A Common Ecological Setting In A Close Proximity To Establish The Inter-Relationship Between Ecology And Rituals In The Tribal Areas. This Is A Holistic Study Concerning All Aspects Of Live Related To Religion. This Micro Study Is Based On All-Important Parameters Like Ecological Settings, Socio-Economic Conditions, Ethnic Diversities And Culture-Historical Factors. This Book Will Help To Enhance Knowledge And To Develop The Methodological Tools And Techniques For The Researcher Belonging To The Subjects Like Social Anthropology, Sociology, Comparative Religion, Tribal Studies, Natural Resource Management And So On.
