Download or read book Ritual A Very Short Introduction written by Barry Stephenson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2015-01-28 with total page 143 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ritual is part of what it means to be human. Like sports, music, and drama, ritual defines and enriches culture, putting those who practice it in touch with sources of value and meaning larger than themselves. Ritual is unavoidable, yet it holds a place in modern life that is decidedly ambiguous. What is ritual? What does it do? Is it useful? What are the various kinds of ritual? Is ritual tradition bound and conservative or innovative and transformational? Alongside description of a number of specific rites, this Very Short Introduction explores ritual from both theoretical and historical perspectives. Barry Stephenson focuses on the places where ritual touches everyday life: in politics and power; moments of transformation in the life cycle; as performance and embodiment. He also discusses the boundaries of ritual, and how and why certain behaviors have been studied as ritual while others have not. Stephenson shows how ritual is an important vehicle for group and identity formation; how it generates and transmits beliefs and values; how it can be used to exploit and oppress; and how it has served as a touchstone for thinking about cultural origins and historical change. Encompassing the breadth and depth of modern ritual studies, Barry Stephenson's Very Short Introduction also develops a narrative of ritual's place in social and cultural life. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Download or read book Ritual Theatre written by Claire Schrader and published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers. This book was released on 2012 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book considers the relevance of ritual theatre in contemporary life and describes how it is being used as a highly cathartic therapeutic process. With contributions from leading experts in the field of dramatherapy, the book brings together a broad spectrum of approaches to ritual theatre as a healing system.
Download or read book Cultic Theatres and Ritual Drama written by Inge Nielsen and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This well-illustrated book thoroughly investigates the relations between East and West in the Ancient world as seen through the lens of ancient religious practices. The author has concentrated on one aspect of the cult, the ritual drama, and its setting, the cultic theatre.The point of departure is the presence of a great amount of theatrical structures in the sanctuaries in Greece and Italy. Many of these structures were not proper theatres in the modern sense of the word, but rather primitive rows of seats, 'a place to watch from', which is in fact the original meaning of the word 'theatre'. These structures have never before been examined from a functional viewpoint, and the author proposes that their primary raison d'etre was the performance of ritual dramas at the great seasonal feasts. These non-literary dramas re-enacted the story or myth of the divinity, which in symbolic form treated the crises connected with precarious transitions during the agricultural year and human life in general.For various reasons, which she describes, the author points to the relative obscurity of this religious institution in the Greek and Roman world, and notes that as a result, it has received scant attention from scholars. In contrast, it is well known that ritual dramas had been performed in the distant past at the great seasonal feasts of the Orient, and the book includes an excellent overview of the development of this institution as well as the setting chosen for it in the Egyptian, Syrio-Phoenician and Anatolian cults, both in their homelands and in their new host countries in the West.This is a fascinating book for archaeologists and classicists, as well as for anthropologists andhistorians of religion, but it also gives food for thought for those who simply want to l
Download or read book Ritual in Human Evolution and Religion written by Matt J. Rossano and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-10-04 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Ritual Play and Belief in Evolution and Early Human Societies written by Colin Renfrew and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents unique new insights into the development of human ritual and society through our heritage of play and performance.
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 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Foreword / Betty Sue Flowers -- Preface. About the authors and their personal and academic engagements with ritual -- Introduction. What is ritual? Its definition and characteristics -- Symbolism in ritual -- The cognitive matrix of ritual : belief systems, myths, and paradigms -- Belief systems, myths, paradigms, rituals, and the process of truing -- Ritual drivers : generating and controlling stages of consciousness -- Ritual techniques and technologies -- Ritual framing, order, and formality : how ritual generates a sense of inevitability and inviolability -- Ritual as performance : generating emotion, belief, and transformation -- Ritual and the 4 stages of cognition -- Ritual's paradoxical roles : preserving the status quo and effecting social change -- Designing rituals -- Conclusion. Ritual : what it is, how it works, and why.
Download or read book The Development of Islamic Ritual written by Gerald Hawting and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-05-15 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume is concerned with the origins, development and character of ritual in Islam. The focus is upon the rituals associated with the five 'pillars of Islam': the credal formula, prayer, alms, fasting and pilgrimage. Since the 19th century academic scholarship has sought to investigate Muslim rituals from the point of view of history, the study of religion, and the social sciences, and a set of the most important and influential contributions to this debate, some of them translated into English for the first time, is brought together here. Participation in the ritual life of Islam is for most Muslims the predominant expression of their adherence to the faith and of their religious identity. The Development of Islamic Ritual shows some of the ways in which this important aspect of Islam developed to maturity in the first centuries of Islamic history.
Download or read book The Power of Ritual in Prehistory written by Brian Hayden and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-09-13 with total page 411 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Secret societies in tribal societies turn out to be key to understanding the origins of social inequalities and state religions.
Download or read book Ritual Failure written by Vasiliki G. Koutrafouri and published by Sidestone Press. This book was released on 2013-12-31 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘Ritual Failure’ is a new concept in archaeology adopted from the discipline of anthropology. Resilient religious systems disappearing, strict believers and faithful practitioners not performing their rites, entire societies changing their customs: how does a religious ritual system transform, change or disappear, leaving only traces of its past glory? Do societies change and then their ritual? Or do customs change first, in turn provoking wider cultural shifts in society? Archaeology possesses the tools and methodologies to explore these questions over the long term; from the emergence of a system, to its peak, and then its decay and disappearance, and in relation to wider social and chronological developments. The collected papers in this book introduce the concept of ‘ritual failure’ to archaeology. The analysis explores ways in which ritual may have been instrumental in sustaining cultural continuity during demanding social conditions, or how its functionality might have failed – resulting in discontinuity, change or collapse. The collected papers draw attention to those turbulent social times of change for which ritual practices are a sensitive indicator within the archaeological record. The book reviews archaeological evidence and theoretical approaches, and suggests models which could explain socio-cultural change through ritual failure. The concept of ‘ritual failure’ is also often used to better understand other themes, such as identity and wider social, economic and political transformations, shedding light on the social conditions that forced or introduced change. This book will engage those interested in ritual theory and practices, but will also appeal to those interested in exploring new avenues to understanding cultural change. From transformations in the use of ritual objects to the risks inherent in practicing ritual, from ritual continuity in customs to sudden and profound change, from the Neolithic Near East to Roman Europe and Iron Age Africa, this book explores what happens when ritual fails.
Download or read book Rituals and Traditional Events in the Modern World written by Jennifer Laing and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-10-30 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many events have evolved over centuries, drawing on local customs and conditions. However, as the world becomes increasingly globalised, traditional events and the identities they support are increasingly being challenged and rituals may be lost. Reacting against this trend towards homogeneity, communities strive to preserve and even recreate their traditional events, which may require rituals to be resurrected or reinvented for a new audience. The aim of this book is to explore the role of traditional events and rituals in the modern world. The 16 chapters cover a range of case studies of the performance of ritual through events, including their historical antecedents and development over time, as well as their role in society, link with identities both seemingly fixed and fluid and their continued relevance. The cases examined are not museum pieces, but rather vibrant festivals and events that continue to persist. Drawing on the power of history and cultural tradition, they are manifestations of heritage, existing in three temporalities: celebrating the past, occurring in the present and aiming to continue into and influence the future. Iconic events including Chinese New Year, Hogmanay and the New Orleans Mardi Gras are examined and examples are drawn from a diverse range of countries such as South Korea, China, Laos, the United States, Scotland, Italy, India and Haiti. This volume provides a deep understanding upon the role of tradition and ritual within events, from a global perspective and will be valuable reading for students, researchers and academics interested in events, heritage and culture.
Download or read book Popular Religion and Ritual in Prehistoric and Ancient Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean written by Giorgos Vavouranakis and published by Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2019-01-14 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume features a group of select peer-reviewed papers by an international group of authors, both younger and senior academics and researchers, on the frequently neglected popular cult and other ritual practices in prehistoric and ancient Greece and the eastern Mediterranean.
Download or read book The Development of Ritual written by Gerald R Hawting and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Ritual and Religion written by Timothy Insoll and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011-10-27 with total page 1135 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive overview, by period and region, of the archaeology of ritual and religion. The coverage is global, and extends from the earliest prehistory to modern times. Written by over sixty renowned specialists, the Handbook presents the very best in current scholarship, and will also stimulate further research.
Download or read book Home Environments written by Irwin Altman and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-06-29 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The present volume in the series focuses on homes, residences, and dwellings. Although many fields have had a long-standing interest in different aspects of home environments, the topic has recently come to the forefront in the interdisciplinary environment and behavior field. Researchers and theorists from many disciplines have begun to meet regularly, share ideas and perspectives, and move the investigation of psychological, social, and behavioral aspects of home environments to the central arena of environment and behavior studies. This volume representative-though not comprehensive attempts to provide a sampling of contemporary perspectives on the study of home environments. As in previous volumes, the authors are drawn from a variety of disciplines, including environmental design fields of architecture and planning, and from the social science fields of psychology, sociology, anthropology, and history. This diversity of authors and perspectives makes salient the principle that the study of homes in relation to behav ior requires the contributions of many disciplines. Moreover, the chap ters in this volume reflect an array of research and theoretical view points, different scales of home environments (e.g., objects and areas, the home as a whole, the home as embedded in neighborhood and communities, etc.), design and policy issues, and, necessarily, a com parative and cross-cultural perspective. Home environments are at the core of human life in most cultures, and it is hoped that the contributions to this volume display the excite ment, potential, and importance of research and theory on homes.
Download or read book Stations of the Sun written by Ronald Hutton and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2001-02-15 with total page 566 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Comprehensive and engaging, this colourful study covers the whole sweep of ritual history from the earliest written records to the present day. From May Day revels and Midsummer fires, to Harvest Home and Hallowe'en, to the twelve days of Christmas, Ronald Hutton takes us on a fascinating journey through the ritual year in Britain. He challenges many common assumptions about the customs of the past, and debunks many myths surrounding festivals of the present, to illuminate the history of the calendar year we live by today.
Download or read book The Archaeology of Ritual written by Evangelos Kyriakidis and published by Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press. This book was released on 2007-12-31 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A wide spectrum of scholars, historians, art historians, anthropologists, students of performance, students of religion, archaeologists, cognitive scientists, and linguists were all asked to think and comment on how ritual can be traced in archaeology and which ways ritual research can go in that discipline. The product is a fairly accurate representation of research on ritual and the archaeology of ritual: scholars from various disciplines, backgrounds and agendas, arguing mostly in the most logical fashion, yet with little agreement between them. So this book should not be seen as presenting one unified attitude towards ritual and its study in archaeology. It should rather be seen as a reflection of what the discourse in the archaeology of ritual is today. The outcome has been extremely thought-provoking, often controversial, but always of extremely high quality.
Download or read book Ritual Theory Ritual Practice written by Catherine Bell and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1992-01-30 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ritual studies today figures as a central element of religious discourse for many scholars around the world. Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice, Catherine Bell's sweeping and seminal work on the subject, helped legitimize the field. In this volume, Bell re-examines the issues, methods, and ramifications of our interest in ritual by concentrating on anthropology, sociology, and the history of religions. Now with a new foreword by Diane Jonte-Pace, Bell's work is a must-read for understanding the evolution of the field of ritual studies and its current state.
