ritual lectures

ritual definition

stereotyped, repetitive behavior that affects a transformation in a physiological condition

all vertebrates engage in them

catalytic, stylized, alleviate anxiety + prepare the organism to act

Human rituals

cultural

conventions (rules, norms) and meanings (narratives, stories, images), generally collective

performance that symbolically communicates values and ideas to both participants and observers; organize social experience

Gobekli Tepe (11,000 yrs ago, SE Turkey)

no signs of habitation; strictly a ritual/ceremonial center

forms of body rituals

cleaning, exercising, feeding

rites of passage

occur in relation to life-cycle events and organize the passage of individuals from one state/identity into another, carrying them from one stage of life into another

often generational

birth/death, adulthood, often involves physical ordeals

spatial and temporal phases, space and time intersect in rituals

1. separation from the old state

2. transition (liminal) condition

3. reincorporation into new state

rites of intensification

(cyclic events) perform/display community values and key symbols, seek to affect a reinvigoration or renewal of individuals’ group identity

defines community, in some regards, bc claims can be made for allegiance to neighbors and kin

ex. thanksgiving, family dinner

rites of inversion

reversals of everyday moral and political orders; specially marked moments when people break, or “humorously play with,” their own cultural rules

ex. Halloween

hortatory rituals

exhortations to the supernatural to perform some act

ex. repenting

specialists for bands

bands do not have fully developed specialists and institutions of organized religion, shamans are only part-time

animistic definition

nonhumans have an interiority identical to our own (souls); substance common to all living things, but differentiated (feathers, fur, scales, bark)

bands

bands and rituals

insulting the meat

ownership transfer - meat belongs to 3rd party; butchering/distribution by other families

dance, trance, and music; all night experiences

tribes and rituals

more elaborate uniting more ppl

ritual specialists

total social events

shamanism definition

theatrical performance of a ritual

liturgy definition

doing things in the correct sequence, in a setting where everyone participates

imagistic definition

episodes of intense physical experience (pain, fear), limited verbal aspects

doctrinal definition

sacred/secular instruction; requires semantic memory (highly verbal)

rituals of the state

full-time specialty priests for rituals

stage and plazas for rituals

ritual in market societies

mass secular events, often extend through media

great big events

ritual more active

anomie - Emile Durkheim

feelings of being adrift, isolated, and disconnected; weak collective identities and fragmented cultural institution in modern society = lack of group rituals

Erving Goffman double definition of self

1. an image pieced together from the expressive implications of the full flow of events

2. a king of player in a ritual game

greetings and farewells

greetings show that a relationship is still what it was at the termination of the previous co-participation

farewells sum up the effect of the encounter upon the relationship and show what the participants may expect of one another when they meet next

reciprocity is important

social gaze function

to perceive information and signal to others

focused interactions

clusters of individuals who extend a communicative license to one another, sustaining a mutual activity

unfocused interactions

communicated between persons merely by virtue of their presence in the same social situation