ENGLISH

Models and Mirrors: Towards an Anthropology of Public Events

By Don Handelman

Book information

Publisher
Berghahn Books
Year
1998
ISBN
1571811656, 9781571811653
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
24 MB (25577513 bytes)
Pages
386\379
DPI
600
Orientation
portrait
Paginated
yes
Scanned
yes
Time added
2015-09-16 13:28:32
Customs Traditions Social Sciences Politics Cultur

Description

Ritual is one of the most discussed cultural practices, yet its treatment in anthropological terms has been seriously limited, characterized by a host of narrow conceptual distinctions. One major reason for this situation has been the prevalence of positivist anthropologies that have viewed and summarized ritual occasions first and foremost in terms of their declared and assumed functions. By contrast, this book, which has become a classic, investigates them as epistemological phenomena in their own right. Comparing public events — a domain which includes ritual and related occasions — the author argues that any public event must first be comprehended through the logic of its design. It is the logic of organization of an occasion which establishes in large measure what that occasion is able to do in relation to the world within which it is created and practiced.

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