Rite out of place
Subtitle: ritual, media, and the arts
By: Ronald L. Grimes.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2006
Place of publication: Oxford; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 199
ISBN-13: 9780195301441; 9780195301458
Subjects: Rites and ceremonies; Mass media; Performing arts
Description: We have been led to believe that rituals are well-behaved and predictable, but they sometimes behave in unpredictable ways, especially when they emerge in unexpected places. However much rites may seem to be at home in churches, temples, mosques, and synagogues, they are not captives of sacred spaces. Rituals appear on television, stare back at the lens in family photographs, slip into university classrooms, haunt the wilds, and attend movies. Rite Out of Place makes provocative discoveries by scouting out some of the unexpected places where ritualizing takes root. Most ritual studies scholarship still focuses on central religious rites. For this reason, Grimes argues, dominant theories, like the data they consider, remain stubbornly conservative. This book issues a challenge to these theories and to popular conceptions of ritual. Grimes writes in an accessible, engaging style, using a broad, interdisciplinary approach. This collection of seminal essays by one of the founders of the discipline appeals to anyone interested in the intersection of ritual and public life.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Ritual and the media; title: Documenting ritual; title: Shooting rites; title: Fiddling with fiddler; title: Ritual in the classroom; title: Ritualizing September 11; title: Sequestering sacred space; title: Putting space in its place; title: The barn and the lab; title: Ritual theory and the environment; title: Performance is currency.