“Ritual” in Recent Criticism: The Elusive Sense of Community

Abstract

Since the 1960s scholars have challenged earlier assumptions concerning ritual and literature. They have seriously discredited both the “ritual theory of myth” and traditional ideas on the relation of ritual to Greek and medieval drama. Although some critics still subscribe to theories of psychoanalysis and the “Cambridge anthropological school,” current anthropology offers superior theories of ritual, particularly those of Victor Turner, with their emphasis on community. Because literature and rites have similar emotional effects we have tended to equate them, but by so doing we confuse the liminal with the “liminoid.” Modern authors influenced by Frazer often invite this comparison. Rene Girard's theories of scapegoat and civilization have provided a new, if controversial, turn to ritual criticism. Rites share their symbolic nature with art, but their peculiar satisfaction lies in the experience of community.

Understanding the ethical implications of the rituals of medicine

“…Although the extensive literature on rituals has identified many common features, there is no single, agreed definition of what constitutes a ritual 2 …”

“…When performed by a healthcare practitioner, hand washing reinforces microbiological causality – a ‘logical corollary to the germ theory of disease’, 43 and demonstrates to patients both attention to detail and care for the interests of the patient in the context of rampant nosocomial infection. Hand washing is not only a fundamental health‐promoting activity, but also a trust‐generating practice for interactions between strangers; rather than ‘illness behaviour’, hand washing is an illness avoidance behaviour giving the patient good reason to trust that a doctor will behave in ‘the relevant way at the relevant time’ 2 . Hand washing therefore carries significant symbolic content, including messages of technical rigour, responsibility, the deliberate transfer of focus from one patient to another, and compliance with accepted rules and procedures.…”

De cómo murió el chilote Otey: Testimonio de una frontera desangrada en la década del '20

“…Es decir que, si bien el reconocimiento de una identidad compartida fundada en la experiencia cotidiana no deriva necesariamente en un momento de communitas, ésta puede emerger al desarrollarse una acción colectiva que -apelando a una experiencia emocional común-promueva una afirmación identitaria. Trosset retoma el concepto "liminoide", con el cual Turner reemplaza el de "liminalidad" para referirse a aquellas actividades semejantes al ritual -como por ejemplo los deportes y el teatro-pero que están alejadas del ámbito sagrado (Hardin, 1983). Este concepto permite a la autora despegarse de la teoría de los "ritos de paso" y analizar las situaciones de communitas como resultado de iniciativas individuales, profanas, motivadas por preocupaciones ideológicas.…”