The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure

by Victor Turner

Book Overview

In The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure, Victor Turner examines rituals of the Ndembu in Zambia and develops his now-famous concept of "Communitas." He characterizes it as an absolute inter-human relation beyond any form of structure.

The Ritual Process has acquired the status of a small classic since these lectures were first published in 1969. Turner demonstrates how the analysis of ritual behavior and symbolism may be used...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0202011909
• ISBN13: 9780202011905
• Release Date: December 1995
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 0.67 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.9" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

It all starts here...

Whether one agrees with him or not, ritual studies as a sub-field straddling anthropology, ethnography and religious studies begins with Victor Turner, and if you want to understand it you need to know this book intimately. Whether or not ritual studies has really moved beyond Victor Turner is a hot topic of debate for those of us who deal with this area of research...but whether or not you need to know him is a given, and it all starts with this text.

landmark work

Victor Turner is one of the great names in anthropology and this is a classic work of analysis of social rituals. He takes van Gennep's theories on rites of passage to a new level, examining how different elements of festivals and rites function.