Purchase this article
USD $22.00
Author:
Bruce Kapferer
Bruce Kapferer
University of Bergen Bruce.Kapferer@uib.no
Search for other papers by Bruce Kapferer in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Bruce Kapferer in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
USD $0.01
All currencies in US Dollar
Symbolic meaning and representational and reflexive perspectives remain dominant orientations in the analysis of ritual. While these must be crucial, this essay argues that a focus on the perceptual dynamics of rite, especially as these are located in ritual aesthetics, may expand an understanding of the force of rite. The discussion develops critically upon Victor Turner’s seminal work, suggesting ways in which ritual analyses may be redirected. The related concepts of dynamics and virtuality (distinguished from the cyber-technological kind) are developed, indicating that these may be critical for understanding how rites change or transform the situations to which they are directed. Ritual as a dynamic in virtuality that has no essential or necessary relation to the ordinary realities that surround it may, because of this fact, be greatly empowered as a force that can pragmatically intervene in ordinary realities.