Generations of anthropologists have been trained, theoretically and methodologically, to analyze the ritual phenomenon among indigenous cultures. For a long time, their perspectives privileged the expression of symbols (cf. Turner 1988 [1969]) and cultural meanings (cf. Geertz 2003 [1973]). Only at the end of the twentieth century did ritual begin to be analyzed independently of the ideas projected onto it, in an effort to understand its mechanisms of action (Humphrey and Laidlaw 1994) and to underscore its cognitive (cf. Whitehouse 2004) and relational (cf. Houseman and Severi 1998) procedures.
In an even more reflexive turn, in this symposium we wish to analyze the way in which the effects of ritual practice have managed to impact, beyond their immediate spheres of influence, those who have dedicated their lives to understanding them. Moving from participant observation to enrollment in cyclical ritual groups and events, anthropology has given ground, turning some of its analysts into true participants in those ritual practices once considered as distant objects of study. Here we will analyze the psycho-emotional mechanisms, the social effects and the affective significances that rituals and their practices have brought to those who—suddenly or gradually—have gone from studying them to becoming active participants in them.
We invite scholars interested in the ritual phenomenon of the Americas who have adopted, to varying degrees and in various forms, some of the ceremonial practices they have analyzed, into their own lives. This space will allow us to reflect collectively on the power of ritual, this device of action that occupies a central role in the indigenous communities of our continent, from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, in order to understand its function as an important mechanism for encounter among people, beyond the differences that separate us.
Bibliography
Geertz, Clifford, The Interpretation of Cultures, Gedisa, Barcelona, 2003 [1973].
Turner, Victor, The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure, Taurus, Madrid, 1988 [1969].
Houseman, Michael and Carlo Severi, Naven or the Other Self: A Relational Approach to Ritual Action, Leiden, Brill, 1998.
Humphrey, Caroline and James Laidlaw, The Archetypal Actions of Ritual: A Theory of Ritual Illustrated by the Jain Rite of Worship, Clarendon Press, 1994.
Whitehouse, Harvey, Modes of Religiosity: A Cognitive Theory of Religious Transmission, AltaMira Press, Lanham, 2004.
