Ritual in Its Own Right : : Exploring the Dynamics of Transformation / / ed. by Don Handelman, Galina Lindquist.

• MitwirkendeR: Droogers, André,; Greenfield, Sidney M.,; Handelman, Don,; Houseman, Michael,; Innis, Robert E.,; Iteanu, André,; Kapferer, Bruce,; Lindquist, Galina,; Nagy, Piroska,; Seeman, Don,
• HerausgeberIn: Handelman, Don,; Lindquist, Galina,
• Place / Publishing House: New York; , Oxford : : Berghahn Books, , [2005]; ©2005
• Year of Publication: 2005
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (242 p.)

Historically, canonic studies of ritual have discussed and explained ritual organization, action, and transformation primarily as representations of broader cultural and social orders. In the present, as in the past, less attention is given to the power of ritual to organize and effect transformation through its own dynamics. Breaking with convention, the contributors to this volume were asked to discuss ritual first and foremost in relation to itself, in its own right, and only then in relation to its socio-cultural context. The results attest to the variable capacities of rites to effect transformation through themselves, and to the study of phenomena in their own right as a fertile approach to comprehending ritual dynamics.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- INTRODUCTION Why Ritual in Its Own Right? How So? -- PART I THEORIZING RITUAL Against Representation, against Meaning -- Chapter 1 RITUAL DYNAMICS AND VIRTUAL PRACTICE Beyond Representation and Meaning -- Chapter 2 OTHERWISE THAN MEANING On the Generosity of Ritual -- PART II EXPERIMENTING WITH RITUAL Natives Here, Natives There -- Chapter 3 THE RED AND THE BLACK A Practical Experiment for Thinking about Ritual -- Chapter 4 PARTIAL DISCONTINUITY The Mark of Ritual -- PART III RITUAL AND EMERGENCE Historical, Phenomenal -- Chapter 5 RELIGIOUS WEEPING AS RITUAL IN THE MEDIEVAL WEST -- Chapter 6 ENJOYING AN EMERGING ALTERNATIVEWORLD Ritual in Its Own Ludic Right -- PART IV HEALING IN ITS OWN RIGHT Spirit Worlds -- Chapter 7 BRINGING THE SOUL BACK TO THE SELF Soul Retrieval in Neo-shamanism -- Chapter 8 TREATING THE SICK WITH A MORALITY PLAY The Kardecist-Spiritist Disobsession in Brazil -- PART V PHILOSOPHICALLY SPEAKING -- Chapter 9 THE TACIT LOGIC OF RITUAL EMBODIMENTS Rappaport and Polanyi between Thick and Thin -- EPILOGUE Toing and Froing the Social -- NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS -- Index