Overview
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.
Full Product Details
Author: Michael Bull , Jon P. Mitchell
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint: Berg Publishers
Dimensions:
Width: 15.60cm
, Height: 1.40cm
, Length: 23.40cm
Weight: 0.580kg
ISBN: 9780857854735
ISBN 10: 0857854739
Pages: 224
Publication Date: 26 February 2015
Audience:
College/higher education
,
General/trade
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Tertiary & Higher Education
,
General
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print 
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.
Table of Contents
Introduction Jon P. Mitchell and Michael Bull, University of Sussex, UKRitual Action Shapes Our Brains: an Essay in Neuroanthropology Robert Turner, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, GermanyPlace-making in the ‘Holy of Holies’: the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, JerusalemTrevor Marchand, School of Oriental and African Studies, UKThe Importance of Repetition: Ritual as Extension of MindGreg Downey, Macquarie University, AustraliaDivine Intervention: Ontology, Cognition and Performance in Maltese Visionary PhenomenaJon P. Mitchell, University of Sussex, UKMaking ‘Sense’ in Embodied/Enactive Modes of Actor Training and PerformancePhillip Zarrilli, University of Exeter, UKRamlila and SpaceRichard Schechner, Tisch School of the Arts, NYU, USAExploring the Andean Sensory Model: Knowledge, Memory and the Experience of PilgrimageZoila Mendoza, University of California, Davis, USASensation and TransmissionDavid Howes, Concordia University, CanadaAfterword Sarah Pink, Loughborough University, UKBibliographyIndex
Reviews
The authors take us on an exhilarating and illuminating journey, combining insights from neuroscience, embodiment theory, performance studies, place and space concepts, and the idea of the extended sensorium, gathering everything into a holistic account of bodily engagement with ritual and experience. The result is a stunning set of contributions to the anthropological theory of ritual. -- Andrew J. Strathern and Pamela J. Stewart (Strathern), Cromie Burn Research Unit, University of Pittsburgh, USA The study of religious ritual continues its wide turn toward the body in Bull and Mitchell's edited volume, which reminds us that knowledge is know-how, rooted firmly within the body, and only secondarily in the brain. The authors are not offering some reheated neo-empiricism, but rather point toward another kind of knowledge altogether, another way of performing, another way of being religious. -- S. Brent Plate, Hamilton College, USA
Author Information
Michael Bull is Professor of Sound Studies at the University of Sussex, UK.Jon P. Mitchell is Reader in Social Anthropology at the University of Sussex, UK.
Tab Content 6
Author Website:
Customer Reviews
Recent Reviews
No review item found!
Add your own review!
Countries Available
All regions
|
