Ritual Communication

"This volume presents a new approach to "ritual communication" by an international group of scholars from a multidisciplinary and cross-cultural perspective, rich with empirical data and path breaking for future theorizing on the topic. The chapters show how ritual communication involves witnessing a future through the making of cultural knowledge. They show ritual communication to be a highly "self-oriented" multimodal process in which the human body, temporalization, and spatialized settings play crucial roles. Ritual communication encompasses both verbal and sensory attributes. It is in part dependent upon prior formulaic and repeated action, and is thus anticipated within particular contexts of social interaction. It is performed and therefore subject to evaluation by its participants according to standards defined by language ideologies, local aesthetics, contexts of use, and interpersonal relations. The authors here emphasize the variety of participatory and experiential aspects of ritual communication in contemporary African, Native American, Asian, and Pacific cultures. Among the forms covered are ritual constraints on everyday interaction, gossip, private and public encounters, political meetings and public demonstrations, rites of passage, theatrical performances, magical formulae, shamanic chants, affinal civilities, and leaders' ceremonial discourse. The book is ideal for students and scholars in anthropology and linguistic anthropology in particular"--Provided by publisher.

Ritual Communication examines how people create and express meaning through verbal and non-verbal ritual. Ritual communication extends beyond collective religious expression. It is an intrinsic part of everyday interactions, ceremonies, theatrical performances, shamanic chants, political demonstrations and rites of passage.

Despite being largely formulaic and repetitive, ritual communication is a highly participative and self-oriented process. The ritual is shaped by time, space and the individual body as well as by language ideologies, local aesthetics, contexts of use, and relations among participants.

Ritual Communication draws on a wide range of contemporary cultures – from Africa, America, Asia, and the Pacific – to present a rich and diverse study for students and scholars of anthropology, sociology and sociolinguistics.

ELLEN B. BASSO is Professor Emerita of Anthropology, University of Arizona.

GUNTER SENFT is Senior Research Fellow at the Max-Planck-Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen and extraordinary Professor of General Linguistics at the University of Cologne.