Ritual

Catalog description

This class is an exploration of the concept of ritual. Do all societies have rituals and/or engage in ritualized behavior? Do animals have ritual? Is ritual a distinctly religious phenomenon? What roles do rituals play in human socialization? We will read a variety of theoretical and ethnographic materials on ritual; we will also observe and invent rituals in the real world. Prerequisites: RG 101 , RG 102 , or RG 103 .