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Ritual theory, ritual practice

Front Cover
4 Reviews
Oxford University Press, 1992 - Political Science - 270 pages
Arguing that the concept of ritual is overdue for critical rethinking, Bell here offers a close theoretical analysis of recent developments in ritual studies, concentrating on anthropology, sociology, and history of religions. She begins by showing how discourse on ritual has served to generate and legitimate a limited and ultimately closed form of cultural analysis. She then proposes that so-called ritual activities be removed from their isolated position as special, paradigmatic acts and restored to the context of "social activity" in general. Using the term "ritualization" to describe ritual thus contextualized, she defines it as a culturally strategic way of acting. She goes on to show how this definition can serve to illuminate such classic issues in traditional ritual studies as belief, ideology, legitimation, and power.
  

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Review: Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice

User Review  - Emily - Goodreads

Bell presents an overview of approaches to the study of ritual and makes some suggestions about new ways to think about rituals and to approach the study of rituals. This is a rather dense history and ... Read full review

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Contents

Introduction
3
Notes
10
THE PRACTICE OF RITUAL THEORY
13
Constructing Ritual
19
Constructing Meaning
30
Constructing Discourse
47
Notes
55
THE SENSE OF RITUAL
67
Ritual Traditions and Systems
118
Notes
143
RITUAL AND POWER
169
Ritual Control
171
Ritual Belief and Ideology
182
The Power of Ritualization
197
Notes
224
Bibliography
239

Action and Practice
69
The Ritual Body
94

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References from web pages

Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice
Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice Book by Catherine Bell; 1992. Read Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice at Questia library.
www.questia.com/ PM.qst?a=o& d=91883069

Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice (book).
Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice. Catherine Bell, New York: Oxford Univer-. sity Press, 1992, 270 pages, $15.95 (paper). Reviewed by Gui-Young Hong ...
www.leaonline.com/ doi/ abs/ 10.1207/ s15327582ijpr0303_7

JSTOR: Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice
Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. x+270 pp. $35.00 (cloth); $15.95 (paper). Catherine Bell's book will surely set the ...
links.jstor.org/ sici?sici=0022-4189(199304)73%3A2%3C289%3ARTRP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-A

ebscohost Connection: Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice (Book).
Sociology of Religion: Reviews the book "Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice," by Catherine Bell.
connection.ebscohost.com/ content/ article/ 1025937129.html;jsessionid=7653987E3DA7640585CA5AA1E76C98AE.ehctc1

415. Gardner, Richard
Catherine Bell’s Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice can be taken as a useful .... The argument presented in Ritual Theory/Ritual Practice suggests that the ...
www.nanzan-u.ac.jp/ SHUBUNKEN/ publications/ jjrs/ pdf/ 415.pdf

practice
Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice. Oxford, Oxford UP, 1992. Bottomore, Tom, ed. A Dictionary of Marxist Thought. Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1983. ...
csmt.uchicago.edu/ glossary2004/ practice.htm

SEARCHING FOR FORM IN A MEDIA-SATURATED WORLD
Catherine Bell (1992) Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice Oxford University Press, New. York. Nick Couldry, (2003) Media Rituals: a critical approach. ...
www.media-anthropology.net/ lboro_couldry.pdf

Ritual: Theoretical Issues in the Study of Religion
26 See C. Bell, Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice, pp. 13-66. 27 For further consideration see the Introductory Essay to J. KREINATH, J. SNOEK, ...
www.pucsp.br/ rever/ rv4_2005/ p_kreinath.pdf

Promise and Problems in the Application of Ritual Studies to Greco ...
and 1992 Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice. 2. The quote is from Catherine Bell’s characterization of Bourdieu in her Ritual: Perspectives and. Dimensions, p. ...
www.philipharland.com/ meals/ 2002%20Taussig%20Paper.pdf

Interface: The Journal for Education, Community, and Values
Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. Muir, Edward. Ritual in Early Modern Europe. New Approaches to European History. ...
bcis.pacificu.edu/ journal/ 2002/ 09/ rampton.php

About the author (1992)

Catherine Bell is at Santa Clara University.

Bibliographic information