Ritual, Performance and the Senses
Ritual, Performance and the Senses by Jon P. Mitchell, published by Bloomsbury Academic on August 25, 2016, is a scholarly exploration of the role of ritual in the transmission of religious ideas and values. This 224-page book delves into how rituals facilitate shared experiences among participants, emphasizing the body and the experiential aspects of these practices. The work integrates insights from cognitive/neuroanthropology, performance studies, and the anthropology of the senses, providing a comprehensive overview of embodied religious practices.
Readers will find eight chapters contributed by experts in various sub-disciplines, each investigating different facets of ritual and belief. The case studies presented range from miracles in Catholic Malta to meditative practices in theatrical performance, as well as significant pilgrimage sites such as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and the festival of Ramlila in India. This text serves as a resource for understanding the intricate processes at the heart of human social life, making it relevant for students and scholars in anthropology, psychology, and religious studies.
Official synopsis Publisher
Ritual has long been a central concept in anthropological theories of religious transmission. Ritual, Performance and the Senses offers a new understanding of how ritual enables religious representations – ideas, beliefs, values – to be shared among participants.
Focusing on the body and the experiential nature of ritual, the book brings together insights from three distinct areas of study: cognitive/neuroanthropology, performance studies and the anthropology of the senses. Eight chapters by scholars from each of these sub-disciplines investigate different aspects of embodied religious practice, ranging from philosophical discussions of belief to explorations of the biological processes taking place in the brain itself. Case studies range from miracles and visionary activity in Catholic Malta to meditative practices in theatrical performance and include three pilgrimage sites: the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the festival of Ramlila in Ramnagar, India and the mountain shrine of the Lord of the Shiny Snow in Andean Peru.
Understanding ritual allows us to understand processes at the very centre of human social life and humanity itself, making this an invaluable text for students and scholars in anthropology, cognitive science, performance studies and religious studies.
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