Revitalizing European Rituals
Author: Jeremy Boissevain
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 1992-01-01
Total Pages: 204
ISBN-13: 9780415079570
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Negotiating Rites
Author: Ute Husken
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2012
Total Pages: 310
ISBN-13: 0199812292
DOWNLOAD EBOOKRitual has been long viewed as an undisputed and indisputable part of (especially religious) tradition, performed over and over in the same ways: stable in form, meaningless, preconcieved, and with the aim of creating harmony and enabling a tradition's survival. The authors represented in this collection argue, however, that this view can be seriously challenged and that ritual's embeddedness in negotiation processes is one of its central features.
The Anthropology of Europe
Author: Cris Shore
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2021-01-07
Total Pages: 241
ISBN-13: 1000323293
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis is the first study of Europe post-1989 from an anthropological perspective. Thirteen distinguished authors examine the social, cultural and political implications of European integration with particular emphasis on changing European identities, concepts of citizenship and levels of participation. Their aim is to suggest an agenda for future research capable of addressing developing trends in contemporary Europe. The book is divided into two parts. The first deals with major theoretical issues that have characterized the anthropological study of Europe and includes a detailed introductory chapter which charts the history of anthropology in Europe and considers the prospects for an anthropology of Europe. This is followed by key themes in the study of European society and culture including kinship, gender, nationalism, immigration and changing patterns of production. The second section develops these themes further using different theoretical perspectives to explain complex issues such as nationalism, ethnic identities, and sectarian conflicts. Nine case studies cover a wide range of contemporary topics including European integration and Irish nationalism, the transmission of ethnic identity, and identity and conflict in the former Yugoslavia and post-colonial Gibraltar. This book fills a gap in the literature on European integration and will be of interest to anthropologists and sociologists as well as students of Political Science, Communications and European Studies.
Ritual
Author: Catherine Bell
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2009-12-29
Total Pages: 369
ISBN-13: 0199739471
DOWNLOAD EBOOKFrom handshakes and toasts to chant and genuflection, ritual pervades our social interactions and religious practices. Still, few of us could identify all of our daily and festal ritual behaviors, much less explain them to an outsider. Similarly, because of the variety of activities that qualify as ritual and their many contradictory yet, in many ways, equally legitimate interpretations, ritual seems to elude any systematic historical and comparative scrutiny. In this book, Catherine Bell offers a practical introduction to ritual practice and its study; she surveys the most influential theories of religion and ritual, the major categories of ritual activity, and the key debates that have shaped our understanding of ritualism. Bell refuses to nail down ritual with any one definition or understanding. Instead, her purpose is to reveal how definitions emerge and evolve and to help us become more familiar with the interplay of tradition, exigency, and self-expression that goes into constructing this complex social medium.
Understanding Rituals
Author: Daniel de Coppet
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2002-11-01
Total Pages: 187
ISBN-13: 1134926626
DOWNLOAD EBOOKUnderstanding Rituals explores how ritual can be understood within the framework of contemporary social anthropology, and shows that ritual is now one of the most fertile fields of anthropological research. The contributors demonstrate how rituals create and maintain - or transform - a society's cultural identity and social relations. By examining specific rituals from various theoretical viewpoints, they reveal the ultimate and contradictory values to which each society as a whole is attached.
Gender, Nation and Religion in European Pilgrimage
Author: Willy Jansen
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Published: 2012
Total Pages: 380
ISBN-13: 1409449645
DOWNLOAD EBOOKOld pilgrimage routes are attracting huge numbers of people. Religious or spiritual meanings are interwoven with socio-cultural and politico-strategic concerns and this book explores three such concerns of hot debate in Europe: religious identity construction in a changing European religious landscape; gender and sexual emancipation; and (trans)national identities in the context of migration and European unification. Through the explorations of such pilgrimages by a multidisciplinary range of international scholars, this book shows how the old routes of Europe are offering inspirational opportunities for making new journeys.
Ritual, Performance, Media
Author: Felicia Hughes-Freeland
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2003-12-16
Total Pages: 248
ISBN-13: 1134713827
DOWNLOAD EBOOKRitual, Performance and Media are significant areas of study which are essential to anthropology and are often surprisingly overlooked. This book brings a more anthropological perspective to debates about media consumption, performativity and the characteristics of spectacle which have transformed cultural studies over the past decade.
Nature and Society
Author: Philippe Descola
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2003-12-16
Total Pages: 322
ISBN-13: 1134827156
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe contributors to this book focus on the relationship between nature and society from a variety of theoretical and ethnographic perspectives. Their work draws upon recent developments in social theory, biology, ethnobiology, epistemology, sociology of science, and a wide array of ethnographic case studies -- from Amazonia, the Solomon Islands, Malaysia, the Mollucan Islands, rural comunities from Japan and north-west Europe, urban Greece, and laboratories of molecular biology and high-energy physics. The discussion is divided into three parts, emphasising the problems posed by the nature-culture dualism, some misguided attempts to respond to these problems, and potential avenues out of the current dilemmas of ecological discourse.
The Ethnography of Moralities
Author: Signe Howell
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2005-08-02
Total Pages: 258
ISBN-13: 1134785011
DOWNLOAD EBOOKFocusing on the social construction of morality, The Ethnography of Moralities discusses a topic which is complex but central to the study and nature of anthropology. With the recent shift towards an interest in indigenous notions of self and personhood, questions pertaining to the moral and ethical origins of beliefs relating to human rights become increasingly relevant. Some of the questions that the contributors address are: * How is the ethical knowledge grounded? * Which social domains most profoundly articulate moral values and which are most affected? * Who defines and who enforces what is right and wrong? * What constitutes an ethical breach? Suggested answers are made with reference to empirical material so that the complexities and varieties of theoretical and methodological issues are highlighted. They are also discussed with reference to a wide array of ethnographic studies from Argentina, Mongolia, Melanesia, Yemen, Zimbabwe, Mexico, Britain and The Old Testament.
Social Experience and Anthropological Knowledge
Author: Kirsten Hastrup
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2003-12-16
Total Pages: 264
ISBN-13: 1134843895
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAnthropology poses an explicit challenge to standard notions of scientific knowledge. It claims to produce genuine insights into the workings of culture in general on the basis of individual social experience in the field. Social Experience and Anthropological Knowledge traces the process from the ethnographic experience to the analytical results, showing how fieldwork enables the ethnographer to arrive at an understanding, not only of `culture' and `society', but also of the processes by which cultures and societies are transformed. The contributors challenge the distinction between subjectivity and objectivity, redefine what we should mean by `empirical' and demonstrate the complexity of present-day epistemological problems through concrete examples. By demystifying subjectivity in the ethnographic process and re-emphasizing the vital position of fieldwork, they do much to renew confidence in the anthropological project of comprehending the world.
