Studies of ritual continue to be of critical interest in anthropology. This course explores anthropological approaches
to ritual as a universal feature of human social life. Attention will be given to key anthropological concepts (e.g. rites
of passage, liminality, anti-structure, communitas, performative aspects of ritual). Although ritual is sometimes
considered as primarily related to religion, the anthropological approach requires that ritual be situated not only in
religious but also in secular contexts, such as: politics and power relations, the construction of social identities and
boundaries, the reproduction and invention of 'tradition' or social memory practices, globalization, commodification
etc. We will also problematize the dichotomy of sacred and secular while discussing practices of today’s
individualized spirituality. Special focus will be paid to the negotiation of sound dimensions of ritual practice.
Requirements: Minimum 500 words annotations of 6 assigned readings (except from the 1st week) uploaded in the moodle course page, here https://dl1.cuni.cz/course/view.php?id=8610 AND a 10 min powerpoint presentation of a selected ethnographic case of a ritual performance interpreted with the help of theoretical concepts from mandatory readings.
Last update: Seidlová Veronika, Mgr., Ph.D. (23.02.2025)
