Results by title
175 books match the query 'Rites and ceremonies' and 5 start with e
Ecology and the Sacred
Engaging the Anthropology of Roy A. RappaportEllen Messer and Michael Lambek, Editors
University of Michigan Press, 2001
Ecology and the Sacred commemorates and advances the anthropology of Roy A. (Skip) Rappaport. Rappaport was an original and visionary thinker whose writings, like these essays, encompass ecological theory and method; ritual, the sacred, and the cybernetics of the holy; the structural study of social maladaptation or "the anthropology of trouble"; and a policy-engaged anthropology that addresses social complexity and structural disorders in modern contexts. The contributors, who are leaders in anthropological studies of the environment and of religion, address themes emerging from Rappaport's pioneering ethnography of Papua New Guinea through his engagement with contemporary social problems. In addition to presenting significant new ethnographic data and sharp critical perspectives, the collection demonstrates the essential holism of anthropology as represented by Rappaport's contributions and legacy.
At a time when anthropology is fractured by debates over whether it is a science or a humanistic tradition, theoretical or applied, this festschrift testifies that a unified anthropology is both possible and necessary for the understanding of humanity and global transformations. The volume will be of interest not only to anthropologists, but to geographers, sociologists, scholars in science-studies, historians, and experts and practitioners in religious studies, as well.
Ellen Messer is Visiting Associate Professor, Tufts University. Michael Lambek is Professor of Anthropology, University of Toronto.
At a time when anthropology is fractured by debates over whether it is a science or a humanistic tradition, theoretical or applied, this festschrift testifies that a unified anthropology is both possible and necessary for the understanding of humanity and global transformations. The volume will be of interest not only to anthropologists, but to geographers, sociologists, scholars in science-studies, historians, and experts and practitioners in religious studies, as well.
Ellen Messer is Visiting Associate Professor, Tufts University. Michael Lambek is Professor of Anthropology, University of Toronto.
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Encounters on Contested Lands
Indigenous Performances of Sovereignty and Nationhood in QuébecJulie Burelle
Northwestern University Press, 2019
Winner, 2019 John W. Frick Book Award
Winner, 2020 Ann Saddlemyer Award
Finalist, ATHE Outstanding Book Award for 2020
Mention Spéciale, Société québécoise d'études théâtrale
In Encounters on Contested Lands, Julie Burelle employs a performance studies lens to examine how instances of Indigenous self-representation in Québec challenge the national and identity discourses of the French Québécois de souche—the French-speaking descendants of white European settlers who understand themselves to be settlers no more but rather colonized and rightfully belonging to the territory of Québec.
Analyzing a wide variety of performances, Burelle brings together the theater of Alexis Martin and the film L'Empreinte, which repositions the French Québécois de souche as métis, with protest marches led by Innu activists; the Indigenous company Ondinnok's theater of repatriation; the films of Yves Sioui Durand, Alanis Obomsawin, and the Wapikoni Mobile project; and the visual work of Nadia Myre. These performances, Burelle argues, challenge received definitions of sovereignty and articulate new ones while proposing to the province and, more specifically, to the French Québécois de souche, that there are alternative ways to imagine Québec's future and remember its past.
The performances insist on Québec's contested nature and reframe it as animated by competing sovereignties. Together they reveal how the "colonial present tense" and "tense colonial present" operate in conjunction as they work to imagine an alternative future predicated on decolonization. Encounters on Contested Lands engages with theater and performance studies while making unique and needed contributions to Québec and Canadian studies, as well as to Indigenous and settler-colonial studies.
Winner, 2020 Ann Saddlemyer Award
Finalist, ATHE Outstanding Book Award for 2020
Mention Spéciale, Société québécoise d'études théâtrale
In Encounters on Contested Lands, Julie Burelle employs a performance studies lens to examine how instances of Indigenous self-representation in Québec challenge the national and identity discourses of the French Québécois de souche—the French-speaking descendants of white European settlers who understand themselves to be settlers no more but rather colonized and rightfully belonging to the territory of Québec.
Analyzing a wide variety of performances, Burelle brings together the theater of Alexis Martin and the film L'Empreinte, which repositions the French Québécois de souche as métis, with protest marches led by Innu activists; the Indigenous company Ondinnok's theater of repatriation; the films of Yves Sioui Durand, Alanis Obomsawin, and the Wapikoni Mobile project; and the visual work of Nadia Myre. These performances, Burelle argues, challenge received definitions of sovereignty and articulate new ones while proposing to the province and, more specifically, to the French Québécois de souche, that there are alternative ways to imagine Québec's future and remember its past.
The performances insist on Québec's contested nature and reframe it as animated by competing sovereignties. Together they reveal how the "colonial present tense" and "tense colonial present" operate in conjunction as they work to imagine an alternative future predicated on decolonization. Encounters on Contested Lands engages with theater and performance studies while making unique and needed contributions to Québec and Canadian studies, as well as to Indigenous and settler-colonial studies.
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Enduring Motives
The Archaeology of Tradition and Religion in Native AmericaLinea Sundstrom
University of Alabama Press, 2012
Enduring Motives examines tradition and religious beliefs as they are expressed in landscape, the built environment, visual symbols, stories, and ritual.
Bringing together archaeologists and Native American experts, this volume focuses on long-lived religious traditions of the native peoples of the Americas and how religion codifies, justifies, and reinforces these traditions by placing a high value on continuity of beliefs and practice.
Using clues from the archaeological record to piece together the oldest religions of the Americas, Enduring Motives is organized into four parts. Part 1 creates continuity through structure, iconography, and sacred stories that correspond to culture-specific symbolic representations of the universe. Part 2 explores the encoding of tradition in place and object, or how people use objects to enliven tradition and pass it on to future generations. Part 3 examines stability and change and shows how traditions can evolve over time without losing their core cultural significance. The final part recognizes deep-time traditions through the evidence of ancient cosmology and religious tradition.
Spanning cultures as diverse as the Aztec, Plains Indians, Hopi, Mississippian, and Southwest Pueblo, Enduring Motives brings to light new insights on ancient religious beliefs, practices, methods, and techniques, which allow otherwise intangible facets of culture to be productively explored.
Contributors
Wesley Bernardini / James S. Brown Jr. / Cheryl Claassen / John E. Clark / ArleneColman / Warren DeBoer /
Wesley Bernardini / James S. Brown Jr. / Cheryl Claassen / John E. Clark / ArleneColman / Warren DeBoer /
Robert L. Hall /Kelley Hays-Gilpin / Alice Beck Kehoe /John E. Kelly / Stephen H. Lekson / ColinMcEwan /
John Norder / Jeffrey Quilter /Amy Roe / Peter G. Roe / Linea Sundstrom
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Ethnographic Sorcery
Harry G. West
University of Chicago Press, 2007
According to the people of the Mueda plateau in northern Mozambique, sorcerers remake the world by asserting the authority of their own imaginative visions of it. While conducting research among these Muedans, anthropologist Harry G. West made a revealing discovery—for many of them, West’s efforts to elaborate an ethnographic vision of their world was itself a form of sorcery. In Ethnographic Sorcery, West explores the fascinating issues provoked by this equation.
A key theme of West’s research into sorcery is that one sorcerer’s claims can be challenged or reversed by other sorcerers. After West’s attempt to construct a metaphorical interpretation of Muedan assertions that the lions prowling their villages are fabricated by sorcerers is disputed by his Muedan research collaborators, West realized that ethnography and sorcery indeed have much in common. Rather than abandoning ethnography, West draws inspiration from this connection, arguing that anthropologists, along with the people they study, can scarcely avoid interpreting the world they inhabit, and that we are all, inescapably, ethnographic sorcerers.
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Exploring the Mesoamerican Subterranean Realm
James E. Brady
University Press of Colorado, 2025
Exploring the Mesoamerican Subterranean Realm brings together recent work and interpretations on the use of underground cavities by Mesoamerica’s pre-Columbian cultures, demonstrating their invaluable cultural purpose. Case studies from across the region investigate the ways in which these highly charged points in the sacred landscape were the focus of countless political and religious activities.
The volume expands the study of caves to focus on the broader realm of subterranean space, introducing the concept of the constructed subterranean, a space in which the Maya deliberately created sacred landmarks through excavation. Chapters critically examine chultuns, previously thought to be subterranean storage chambers, and sascaberas, previously considered mines, demonstrating that the traditional archaeological models are deeply flawed. A wealth of data on both features is used to envision a new sacred landscape filled with thousands of subterranean sacred landmarks. Natural caves are also examined; a survey conducted around the ancient site of Yaxchilan considers the obvious importance of large stalagmites set up in the site core as monuments. Long-distance pilgrimages to these caves fundamentally reevaluates the nature of pilgrimage and reveals an economic and political importance that structured settlement and activities around the pilgrimage sites. Finally, evidence is analyzed to show that the human bones recovered from Midnight Terror Cave, Belize, were the result of human sacrifice.
Dealing equally with the archaeology of both natural and constructed subterranean spaces, Exploring the Mesoamerican Subterranean Realm challenges preconceived notions of these spaces and their meanings, dramatically shifting the field’s focus and extending the understanding of the critical importance of this “dark side” of archaeology.
The volume expands the study of caves to focus on the broader realm of subterranean space, introducing the concept of the constructed subterranean, a space in which the Maya deliberately created sacred landmarks through excavation. Chapters critically examine chultuns, previously thought to be subterranean storage chambers, and sascaberas, previously considered mines, demonstrating that the traditional archaeological models are deeply flawed. A wealth of data on both features is used to envision a new sacred landscape filled with thousands of subterranean sacred landmarks. Natural caves are also examined; a survey conducted around the ancient site of Yaxchilan considers the obvious importance of large stalagmites set up in the site core as monuments. Long-distance pilgrimages to these caves fundamentally reevaluates the nature of pilgrimage and reveals an economic and political importance that structured settlement and activities around the pilgrimage sites. Finally, evidence is analyzed to show that the human bones recovered from Midnight Terror Cave, Belize, were the result of human sacrifice.
Dealing equally with the archaeology of both natural and constructed subterranean spaces, Exploring the Mesoamerican Subterranean Realm challenges preconceived notions of these spaces and their meanings, dramatically shifting the field’s focus and extending the understanding of the critical importance of this “dark side” of archaeology.
[more]