Description
Book Synopsis Designed for both academic and lay audiences, this book identifies the characteristics of ritual and, via multiple examples, details how ritual works on the human body and brain to produce its often profound effects. These include enhancing courage, effecting healing, and generating group cohesion by enacting cultural—or individual—beliefs and values. It also shows what happens when ritual fails.
Trade Review “This book provides a fascinating introduction to ritual while offering innovative heuristics (e.g., ritual drivers, entrainment, symbolic penetration) to interpret how ritual effectively works…Highly Recommended.” • Choice
“One could say that this is a "ritual omnibus"—a text that takes us on a journey into the different scales and dimensions of ritual, and ultimately encourages its readers to rethink their understandings both of ritual and of society.” • Ruy Blanes, University of Gothenburg
“This book is the go-to resource for anyone seeking a holistic, modern understanding of the human phenomenon of ritual. Robbie Davis-Floyd and Charles Laughlin not only assemble information and insights from a panoply of anthropologically known societies, but also enrich their discussion of ritual’s power from their own personal life experiences. The results are exciting and potentially lifechanging.” • Megan Biesele, President, Kalahari People's Fund
Table of Contents List of Illustrations
Foreword
Betty Sue Flowers
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction: What is Ritual? Its Definition and Characteristics
Chapter 1. Symbolism in Ritual
Chapter 2. The Cognitive Matrix of Ritual: Belief Systems, Myths, and Paradigms
Chapter 3. Belief Systems, Myths, Paradigms, Rituals, and the Process of Truing
Chapter 4. Ritual Drivers: Generating and Controlling Stages of Consciousness
Chapter 5. Ritual Techniques and Technologies
Chapter 6. Ritual Framing, Order, and Formality: How Ritual Generates a Sense of Inevitability and Inviolability
Chapter 7. Ritual as Performance: Generating Emotion, Belief, and Transformation
Chapter 8. Ritual and the 4 Stages of Cognition
Chapter 9. Ritual's Paradoxical Roles: Preserving the Status Quo and Effecting Social Change
Chapter 10. Designing Rituals
Conclusion: Ritual: What It Is, How It Works, and Why
Appendix 1. How to Create and Perform an Effective Stage 4 Ritual: Things to Remember and Include
Appendix 2. List of Documentary Films about Ritual
References
Index
