Ritual in Its On Right Exploring the Dynamics of Transformation [Paperback]

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.

Preface

Introduction:Why Ritual in Its Own Right? How So?
Don Handelman

PART I: THEORIZING RITUAL: AGAINST REPRSENTATION, AGAINST MEANING

Chapter 1.Ritual Dynamics and Virtual Practice: Beyond Representation and Meaning
Bruce Kapferer

Chapter 2.Otherwise Than Meaning: On the Generosity of Ritual
Don Seeman

PART II: EXPERIMENTING WITH RITUAL: NATIVES HERE, NATIVES THERE

Chapter 3.The Red and the Black: A Practical Experiment for Thinking about Ritual
Michael Houseman

Chapter 4.Partial Discontinuity: The Mark of Ritual
Andr? Iteanu

PART III: RITUAL AND EMERGENCE: HISTORICAL, PHENOMENAL

Chapter 5.Religious Weeping as Ritual in the Medieval West
Piroska Nagy

Chapter 6.Enjoying an Emerging Alternative World: Ritual in Its Own Ludic Right
Andr? Droogers

PART IV: HEALING IN ITS OWN RIGHT: SPIRIT WORLDS

Chapter 7.Bringing the Soul Back to the Self: Soul Retrieval in Neo-shamalÃ#