Bell C., Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice

Notes

ergcy ;n Trad;t:owt3/ Soc;gt;M, ed. Jack R. Goody (Cambridge: Cam­ bridge University Press, 1968), p. 2.4.

198.Goody, T%?e Logic o/^ Wr;twg, pp. 7, 9, 12.9—31. There is a concom­ itant notion that [iteracy, especially the wide-scale titeracy afforded by printing, has a negative effect on the vitality of ritual in a culture. John Bossy challenges this idea in CAwstMMtty :w tAe West, 14001700 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985). On this general topic,

and citing Bossy, see Andrew E. Barnes, "Review Essay: Religious Reform and the War Against Ritual," /oMrwa/ o/* R;tM<?/ StM<%es 4, no. 1 (1990): 127-33.

199.Rappaport, pp. 179 -8 iff. An interesting example that challenges the arguments of Rappaport and Hobsbawn and Ranger is provided by Walter Pitts's study of how an oral "tradition," particularly a style of preaching, is maintained in a contemporary American Afro-Baptist church. This style of preaching involves the transition from one di­ alect to another in order to signal the important spiritual shift that "makes the ritual w ork." See Walter Pitts, "Keep the Fire Burnin': Language and Ritual in the Afro-Baptist Church," /oMrwa/ o/ t%?e

AfMencdM Acgdewy o/Re//g;ow 56, no. 1 (1988): 77—97. 2.00. Valeri, p. 342..

2.01.Hobsbawn and Ranger, p. 1.

2.02..P. Steven Sangren, History awd M<?g;c<?/ Power w a C^:wese Cow-

2.08. Hobsbawn, "Mass-Producing Traditions," p. 2.79.

2.09.Hobsbawn, "Mass-Producing Traditions," p. 2.80.

2.10.Moore and Myerhoff, p. 8.

a n . Jonathan Z . Smith in "The Bare Facts of Ritual," in /wcgMMMg Re- /:g<oH.- Prow Ba&y/ow to /oHesKwM (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982), p. 53.

212.. Bell, "Ritual, Change and Changing Rituals," pp. 3 1 -4 1 .

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ed. David Johnson, Andrew J. Nathan, and Evelyn S. Rawski (Berketey: University of Catifornia Press, 1985), pp. 292—32.4. Wat­ son notes that "the Chinese state intervened in tocal cutts in subtle ways to impose a kind of unity on regiona) and loca)-)evel cutts," which resulted in "a surprisingly high degree of uniformity" (p. 2.93). Indeed, the promotion of state-approved cutts was so successfut in ptaces that it effectivety drove out the worship of locat gods. Watson specificaHy exptores the cutt of the goddess T'ien Hou, the officiat titte conferred on the goddess whom Sangren studied under her originat name, Matsu. He describes how the state decided that it was "expedient" to adopt and endorse her to assist in the pacification of the southern coastat regions in the twelfth century. As a result she became the focus of most of the retigious worship in that region. Thus, he tracks the "up and down" ftow of ideas by which "a minor deity .. . was adopted by the state, transformed in important ways, and then reimposed on tocal communities as an officially recognized goddess" (p. 2.94). Yet Watson does notsimpty interpret the extended T'ien Hou cutt in terms of the integrative functions formutated by Durkheim. He atso finds represented in the goddess's cutts a hierarchy of understanding and power: she came to mean something different to different groups of peopte according to their ptace in this hierarchy. Thus, among tocat elites, buitding temples for the goddess signated their witlingness "to join the mainstream of Chinese cutture." How­ ever, among semititerate tandowning tineages, and in direct contrast to the rote of her cutt in Taiwan, the goddess is seen as "jeatous and vindictive," ctosety associated with bitter territoriat distinctions and toyatties. Thus, in this context, she is not a motherty figure who promotes the transcendence of locat affiliations through pilgrimage and festivats (pp. 312.-13, 3:8 —19). In terms of cutturat integration, Watson's study atso suggests that a hierarchy of power may be intrinsicatty necessary to the dynamics of cutturat integration.

2.34.Sangren, p. 12.4. Watson's emphasis on form over content and Sangren's on a principte of pure hierarchy are somewhat awkward in their current formutations, but both men are pointing to how strat­ egies of rituatization (particutar)y hierarchization, homotogization,

and priviteged opposition), variously deptoyed in many different sit­ uations, generate a differentiated and integrated sociat system.

2.3 $. Joachim Wach, Socto/ogy 0^Re/;g!0M (Chicago: University of Chi­ cago Press, 1971), originatty pubtished in 1944, pp. 2.14-18.

2.36.Dougtas, NgtMfti/ Sywbo/s, pp. 86—87.

2.37.Lane, p. 14. For a good account of the sociat and historicat context in which a comptetety new corpus of rites is designed and impte-

mented, see Steven M. Getber and Martin L. Cook, Saying the Earth.- The History o f a M<WJ/e-C/as^ Mi//enarian Mo^ewent (Berke)ey: Uni­ versity of Catifornia Press, 1990).

238.Max Weber, The Sociology o f Re/igion, trans. Ephraim Fischoff (New York: Beacon Press, 1963), originaHy pubtished in 192.2..

239.See Reinhard Bendix, Max Weber.- Aw iwte//ectMa/ Portrait (Berke)ey:

University of Catifornia Press, 1977), originatty pubtished in i960, pp. 88—89.

2.40. Dowting, pp. 2.6—17, and Jameson, The Po/itica/ Unconscious,

pp. 62. f f .

241.Bourdieu, OMt/ine ofa Theory o f Practice, pp. 2 1 ,1 6 5 ,1 7 0 - 7 1 ,1 8 4 - 89, 194. His interest in and anatysis of education are presented more futty in Pierre Bourdieu and Jean-Ctaude Passeron, Repro<^Hcf;oM in E^Mcaf!OM, Society anJ CM/tMre, trans. Richard Nice (Beverty Hitts, Catif.: Sage Pubtications, 1977).

242.Bourdieu, O M t / i w e o f a Theory o f Practice, p. 184.

243.Bourdieu, OMt/iwe o f <3Theory o f Practice, pp. 40—41. Atso see Atvin W. Goutdner, The pMwction o f iwfe//ectMa/s aw^ the Rise o f the New C/ass (New York: Seabury Press, 1979). Goutdner echoes Bourdieu's discussion of how a sociat ctass and a particutar mode of sociat discourse mutuatty constitute each other, and how processes tike "credentiating" redefine tabor as vatuabte onty when it conforms to cutturat norms objectified by the new ctass of credentiated experts (pp. 21-29; Bourdieu, p. 170). Goutdner suggests that the ideotogy of discourse accompanying the rise of an expert ctass bases itsetf on a betief in the autonomy of speech and action, autonomous because they are seen as rute-oriented rather than controtted by externa) forces

164

and the Nuer prophet (charismatic heater) (NatKra/ Syw/?o/s, p. 1 2.4). Morris atso discusses Evans-Pritchard's 1940 anatysis (T&e N^er [Ox­ ford: Oxford University Press, 1940]), which tinked the rise of the Nuer prophet with sociat changes under cotoniatism (p. 2.01). Goody (7'^e Logic o/ Writing, p. 118) does argue that retigion is one of the first areas of sociat tife to register the forces of sociat stratification and speciatization.

147.Vateri, pp. 135-37-

2.48.Vateri, pp. 137-38.

2.49.Vateri, p. 139.

2.50.Peter Brown (T^e Maying o/ Late Anti^Mity [Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1978], pp. 12., 19), for exampte, has de­ scribed how the nature and "tocus" of divine power shifted in the tate antique wortd to mean something from "outside the human community" that coutd be represented on earth by speciatty empow­ ered agents whose retationship with the supernaturat was stabte, irrevcrsibte, and ctearty distinct from that of the sorcerer. A simitar situation attended the emergence of a Taoist priesthood; see Cath­ erine Bett, "Rituatization of Texts and Textuatization of Rituat in the Codification of Taoist Liturgy," History o/ R<?/igiom 2.7, no. 4 (1988): 366-92.

2.51.Ahern draws this distinction in terms of ittocutionary power. She argues that speciatists are needed for rituats in which "strong" ittocutionary acts are made, namety, format requests which are thought to affect the immediate environment automaticatty. On the other hand, private rituats are then primarity a matter of "w eak" ittocu­ tionary acts, in which one expresses wishes, not demands, which may or may not be futfitted. See Ahern, pp. 13—[4.

252.The circutarity of this is captured neatty in the fottowing statement: "The authority of the Brahmin is dependent on the authority of the Veda, and the Veda exists onty because of the traditiona) function the Brahmin has assumed for its preservation." B. K. Smith, R ejec­

tions on Resew/?/awce, RitMa/ and Re/igion, p. 13.

2.53. B. K. Smith, Rejections on Resemblance, Ritna/ and Re/igion, p. 143.

2.54.B. K. Smith, Rejections on Resewi^/awce, RitMa/and Re/?gion, p. 144.

255.B. K. Smith, Rejections on ResernMance, RitMa/and Re/igion, p. 148.

256.B. K. Smith, Re/Zecttons on Resew^/ance, R;tMa/ and Re/igion, p. 151.

257.B. K. Smith devetops this idea in connection with the fact that as the Vedic rituat system dectined, domestic rites became very important in the subsequent devetopment of Hinduism. The principte of identity appears to be a tater devetopment of something very tatent in the hierarchization of rituats under brahmin domination, serving as a

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point of contrast between Hinduism and Vedism (Re/7ecfio7M ow Resewh/dwce, RitMa/ awe/ Re/igiow).

258.The brahmin's rituat expertise u)timate)y comes to depend on four factors: caste, which inscribes socia! distinctions and hierarchy into

the very structure of the cosmos; initiation into study of the Vedas as a "twice-born" ma!e through the ritua!; training in recitation of the Vedas, a feat requiring carefu! pedagogy, memori­ zation, and teisure time that dramatica!!y reduces accessibitity; and the performance of successivety powerfu! ritua!s, the more impressive of which can be undertaken on!y by someone who has performed others in a series. Staa! describes the importance of the chants in the construction of the fire a!tar: "Under duress, ritua! acts may be negtected, glossed over, or changed, but recitations must be maintained at a!) cost, and without modification__ The construction of the fire attar invotves the deposition of more than a thousand bricks, of specific sizes and shapes, and in a compticatcd pattern. However, the physicat deposition of the bricks is unimportant, what counts in their consecration by mantras. This is obvious from the fact that, though the order of bricks is rituatty prescribed, the bricks are actuatty put down in any order, and not at the proper time. When they are con­ secrated, however, the prescribed order is adhered to and the correct time is observed__ That this emphasis on mantras has been the same for at teast 2.500 years is demonstrated by a statement in the Satapatha Brahmana (9.1.2..17): 'This fire attar is tanguage, for it is constructed with tanguage.'" (Frits Staat, Agwi.- The Vedic RitMa/ o f the Fire A/far, 2.vo!s. [Berke!ey,Ca!if.: Asian Humanities Press, 1983], vot. i,p . 18). The tanguage is the exctusive property of each brahmin tradition, transmitted on!y from master to student, and except for the names of deities, generaHy unintettigibte even to the brahmin.

2.59.Vateri notes the openness of the pantheon at the bottom tevet, where the spontaneous generation of deities frequency occurs (p. 36).

2.60.There are many examptes of rituat codifications granting a centra) ptace to those rites that )egitimate the ruter white simuttaneous!y tinking those rites to traditiona! practices present throughout the socia! hierarchy. See Averit Cameron, "The Construction of Court Ritua]: The Byzantine Boo% o f Cerewowies," in RitHa/s o f Roya/ty; Power dnd Cerewowia/ ;w Trac/iKonc/ Societies, ed. David Cannadine and Simon Price (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), pp. 106—36.

2.61.Goody, The Logic o f Writing, pp. t6 - i8 .

164.For good examples of this form of Chinese casuistry, see McMullen, pp. 2.2.0-2.1.

2.63.Bruce Lincoln raises the interesting case of the Swazi Ncwala rite, originaHy recorded by Hilda Kuper (and studied by Gluckman and Beidelman), who was unaware of the very particular political forces shaping the version of the Ncwala she observed. See Bruce Lincoln, Discotirsg anc/ the CowstrMctioM o/ Society (New York: Oxford Uni­

versity Press, 1989), pp. 33-74.

266.McMullen, pp. 2.01-2.. Heesterman raises the issue of what happens if this gap gets too big (p. 3).

267.Goody, T%e Logic o/ Writing, pp. 14 and 44. Heesterman also de­

scribes the "interiorization" of the Vedic sacrifice in later Indian religions when "ritualism" had advanced to its logical conclusion (cited in B. K. Smith, Rejections on ResewMance, R:tK<?/ Re/i­ gion, pp. 194, 2 1 1 -12 ; also see Heesterman, p. 4). It has long been an assumption of modernization theory that individualism, universal values, and moral/ethical concerns bring about a decreased reliance on ritual. Some historians of literacy and its cultural impact also make this connection (Stock, p. 50). Douglas's typologies, of course, also suggest that ritual is less dense and important in societies with these features. Yet there is really very little evidence to suggest that ritual in general declines per se. It may be more accurate to say that it shifts. For example, as the scale of the community grows, as in the emergence of a "national" community, the density of ritual is rear­ ranged, as certain social ties diminish in importance within the new hierarchy or become more critical for the constitution of community. National rituals may emerge as local village life breaks down, or voluntary organizations that cut across older relations of kin and village may emerge as centers or purveyors of ritual activities.

2.68. Goody, The Logic o/* Writing, p. 32

269.B. K. Smith, Rejections on ResewMgnce, RitMg/ anJ Re/igion, pp. 202—4, 2 :5 —18.

2.70.Goody has strongly argued for the role of writing and standardization in promoting universal values over particular or local values. Whereas oral transmissions would be modified as they traveled, written texts can be transmitted intact to groups with different cultural assump­ tions. At the same time, rewriting, as in translation, tends to eliminate cultural obstacles in favor of more general features and values. In­ deed, things are often written down primarily to enable them to travel beyond the confines of a particular group. Goody uses this argument to explain how "religions of the book"— such as Christianity, Ju­ daism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism— were able to become world

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religions. A good exampte of this process is provided by Glen Dudbridge in his close study of successive versions of an Indian Buddhist tale as it came to be transmitted in China (Tbe Legend o f Miao-s^aw [London: Ithaca Press, 1978]). Watson provides a more ethnographic but equally effective example in his study of another, not unrelated, goddess ("Standardizing the Gods").

It has been argued that literacy causes the unarticulated doxa of a community to give way to the formulation and authority of or­ thodoxy. Some scholars suggest that orthodoxy emerges primarily in the context of a challenge and the ensuing struggle among contending sets of ideas (John G. Gager, Kingdom: and Co?n?WMM<fy.- Tbe Socid/ Wor/J o f Ear/y CbrisfMw/fy [Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 197$], pp. 76-88). But Goody points out that such a struggle can develop only when doctrinal points come to be sufficiently fixed and explicit. In other words, he implies, written materials both make disagreement possible and make it more than just a very local affair. The social stratification and the universalization of values that allows pluralism result, Goody suggests, in the breakdown of the type of homogeneous "worldview" associated with tribal cultures and open the way to the development of "ideologies" as the interests of par­ ticular groups or classes in the society (Goody, T%?e Logic o f W niwg, p. 2.2.).

Evidence also suggests that the demand for orthodoxy will prevail over a demand for orthopraxy when systems of ideas and practices spread across ethnically and culturally distinct communities. Local communities tend to be more attached to traditional communal prac­ tices than to abstract ideas. Since interpretations change more easily, the old practices tend to be reinterpreted. Thus, early Christianity had to decide whether converted Gentiles should take on the practices of orthodox Judaism. In the process of formulating what should be "brought to the Gentiles," an expedient emphasis was placed on "belief" in Jesus Christ, rather than the dietary and initiatory customs associated with Hebrew communities quite alien to the Gentiles. Orthodoxy not only may emerge in a struggle over beliefs; it may also emerge when an emphasis on belief can effectively unite a larger community embracing many local traditions of praxis. According to this reasoning, Christianity sought to evangelize without necessarily destroying local community, which was a pattern in the spread of Buddhism as well. The issue of local rites is a very interesting one in the history of the spread of Christianity, and for the most part the spirit was one of accommodation. A notable exception was the con­ troversy over ancestor rites in China and Africa.

Rawski (Berkeiey: University of California Press, 1988), p. 119.

2.73.James Hayes, "Speciatists and Written Materiats in the Vittage Wortd," in PopM/nr Cn/fMra w Late /wpena/ C^/Mg, ed. David John­ son, Andrew J. Nathan, and Evetyn S. Rawski, (Berke)ey: University of Catifornia Press, 1985), pp. 75—111.

2.74.Watson, "Funerat Speciatists in Cantonese Society," pp. 132.—33; and Susan Naquin, "Funerat in North China: Uniformity and Varia­ tions," in Deaf/; R:tMg/ <w Late iwpeWa/ end Mo^erM C^wa, ed. James L. Watson and Evetyn S. Rawski (Berketey: University of Catifornia Press, 1988), p. 6 i.

2.75.Staat, Agw/, vot. 1, p. 2..