skip to content
Ritual theory, ritual practice Preview this item
ClosePreview this item
  • Preview this Item (Questia)

Ritual theory, ritual practice

Author: Catherine M Bell
Publisher: New York : Oxford University Press, 1992.
Edition/Format:   Book : EnglishView all editions and formats
Summary:
Arguing that the concept of ritual is overdue for critical rethinking, Bell here offers a close theoretical analysis of recent developments in ritual studies, concentrating on anthropology, sociology, and history of religions. She begins by showing how discourse on ritual has served to generate and legitimate a limited and ultimately closed form of cultural analysis. She then proposes that so-called ritual activities  Read more...
Rating:

(not yet rated) 0 with reviews - Be the first.

 

Find a copy in the library

Retrieving... Finding libraries that hold this item...

Details

Document Type: Book
All Authors / Contributors: Catherine M Bell
ISBN: 0195076133 9780195076134 0195069234 9780195069235
OCLC Number: 23651089
Description: x, 270 p. ; 21 cm.
Responsibility: Catherine Bell.
More information:

Abstract:

Arguing that the concept of ritual is overdue for critical rethinking, Bell here offers a close theoretical analysis of recent developments in ritual studies, concentrating on anthropology, sociology, and history of religions. She begins by showing how discourse on ritual has served to generate and legitimate a limited and ultimately closed form of cultural analysis. She then proposes that so-called ritual activities be removed from their isolated position as special, paradigmatic acts and restored to the context of "social activity" in general. Using the term "ritualization" to describe ritual thus contextualized, she defines it as a culturally strategic way of acting. She goes on to show how this definition can serve to illuminate such classic issues in traditional ritual studies as belief, ideology, legitimation, and power.

Reviews

User-contributed reviews
Retrieving weRead reviews...
Retrieving GoodReads reviews...
Retrieving Amazon reviews...

Tags

Be the first.

Similar Items

Related Subjects:(13)

User lists with this item (7)

Confirm this request

You may have already requested this item. Please select Ok if you would like to proceed with this request anyway.

Close Window

Please sign in to WorldCat 

Don't have an account? You can easily create a free account.