| Ritual, Performance and the Senses Contributor(s): Bull, Michael (Author), Mitchell, Jon P. (Author) |
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ISBN: 0857854739 ISBN-13: 9780857854735 Publisher: Routledge OUR PRICE: $171.00 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: April 2015 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Anthropology - Cultural & Social - Religion | Psychology Of Religion - Psychology | Cognitive Neuroscience & Cognitive Neuropsychology |
| Dewey: 301.01 |
| LCCN: 2014037299 |
| Series: Sensory Studies |
| Physical Information: 0.56" H x 6.14" W x 9.21" (1.08 lbs) 224 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: 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. |
Contributor Bio(s): Bull, Michael: - Edited by Michael Bull, Lecturer in Media Studies, University of Sussex.Howes, David: - DAVID HOWES is Professor of Anthropology at Concordia University and the general editor of the Sensory Formations series from Berg. He is the author of Sensual Relations: Engaging the Senses in Culture and Social Theory, co-author (with Constance Classen and Anthony Synnott) of Aroma: The Cultural History of Smell, and editor of Empire of the Senses: The Sensual Culture Reader, among other works. |