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| Ritual Studies | |
|---|---|
| Name | Ritual Studies |
| Academic disciplines | Anthropology; Religious studies; Sociology |
| Notable figures | Émile Durkheim; Victor Turner; Mary Douglas; Clifford Geertz |
| Institutions | London School of Economics; Harvard University; University of Chicago |
Ritual Studies Ritual Studies is an interdisciplinary field examining formalized practices, ceremonial performances, and patterned actions across cultures and historical periods. Scholars analyze rites through frameworks developed in anthropology, religious studies, sociology, psychology, and history to interpret meaning, social structure, power, and identity in contexts such as courts, temples, hospitals, and parliaments. Research draws on theorists and institutions including Émile Durkheim, Victor Turner, Mary Douglas, Clifford Geertz, Max Weber, Arnold van Gennep, Edward Said, Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Sigmund Freud, and organizations like the Royal Anthropological Institute, Smithsonian Institution, Max Planck Society, American Anthropological Association, and British Academy.
Ritual Studies defines ritual by reference to canonical cases such as coronations in Westminster Abbey, sacraments in St Peter's Basilica, and funerary rites in Arlington National Cemetery, situating analysis alongside comparable inquiries by Émile Durkheim, Arnold van Gennep, Victor Turner, Mary Douglas, and Clifford Geertz. The scope spans comparative projects on rites in societies examined by fieldworkers associated with Oxford University, Harvard University, University of Chicago, Cambridge University, and University of Cape Town, and applied studies in contexts like the United Nations General Assembly, European Court of Human Rights, World Health Organization, International Criminal Court, and NATO. Definitions negotiate jurisprudent cases such as rulings of the Supreme Court of the United States and historical precedents like the French Revolution or the Meiji Restoration when ritual practice intersects with public authority documented by scholars at the London School of Economics.
The field engages theoretical lineages from classics such as Émile Durkheim on collective representations, Max Weber on legitimation, Victor Turner on liminality, Mary Douglas on purity, and structuralist approaches influenced by Claude Lévi-Strauss and Claude Lévi-Strauss’s interlocutors at the Collège de France. Contemporary dialogues invoke Michel Foucault on discipline, Pierre Bourdieu on habitus and symbolic power, Clifford Geertz on thick description, and psychoanalytic readings referencing Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung; comparative work links to case studies from India (e.g., Kumbh Mela), Japan (e.g., Shinto rites), Ethiopia (Lalibela), Mexico (Day of the Dead), United Kingdom (Trooping the Colour), and United States (Inauguration of the President of the United States).
Historical development traces genealogies through landmark works and episodes studied by scholars at University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Columbia University, Princeton University, and Yale University, and through events like the Enlightenment, Reformation, Counter-Reformation, Industrial Revolution, and Decolonization of Africa. Key periods include colonial encounters documented in archives at the British Library and the Library of Congress, ethnographic classics produced during the era of the Berlin Conference (1884–85), and modern transformations after the World War I and World War II that prompted scholarship at the School of Oriental and African Studies and the Institute for Advanced Study.
Methodologies combine ethnography, participant observation, archival research, discourse analysis, and performance studies used by researchers affiliated with Field Museum of Natural History, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Peabody Museum, Smithsonian Institution, and Royal Anthropological Institute. Fieldwork often references case studies from anthropologists who worked in regions such as Papua New Guinea (notably studies of ritual by scholars connected to Australian National University), West Africa (archives at the University of Ibadan), Southeast Asia (collections at National University of Singapore), and indigenous contexts recorded by teams linked to University of British Columbia and University of Auckland.
Ritual categories include rites of passage exemplified by ceremonies studied in Rites of Passage literature, calendrical festivals like Diwali and Easter, political rituals such as inaugurations at Capitol Hill and investitures at Buckingham Palace, legal rituals observed at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, medical rituals practiced in hospitals affiliated with Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins Hospital, and economic rituals visible in market inaugurations at New York Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange. Other contexts encompass sporting rituals at Wembley Stadium and Madison Square Garden, military rituals like Remembrance Day services, and diasporic rituals in communities connected to United Nations Relief and Works Agency and African Union networks.
Scholars analyze ritual functions including social cohesion discussed by Émile Durkheim, boundary maintenance theorized by Mary Douglas, identity formation explored by Clifford Geertz, and political legitimation modeled by Max Weber and applied in studies of regimes such as Ottoman Empire and Byzantine Empire. Effects examined in literature from the World Health Organization to case studies in transitional justice at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (South Africa) include emotional regulation, symbolic economy analyzed in relation to World Bank development projects, and mobilization assessed in studies of movements like Solidarity (Polish trade union) and Arab Spring.
Contemporary debates engage ethics and cultural heritage protected under instruments like the UNESCO World Heritage Convention and policy arenas including the European Union and United States Department of State, address secularization theses contested in work on Turkey and France, examine ritual revivals in contexts such as Neo-Paganism and Evangelicalism in the United States, and inform applied practices in peacebuilding by organizations like United Nations missions and non-governmental actors such as International Committee of the Red Cross. Ongoing research programs are hosted at centers including Harvard Divinity School, University of California, Berkeley, Institut d'études avancées, and Max Planck Institute.