EBook From Ritual to theatre eq

Liminal liminoid social drama stage drama etc I was introduced to this book by Ricardo Dominguez Has a lot of intresting ideas about performance This is one to keep on the shelf as a reference Paperback no rating read it for my performing arts degree This book was really helpful for an essay I wrote on limbic space Paperback This ends up feeling pretty dated but is still really interesting I wonder what Turner would make of the way liminal the term is thrown around in academic discourse particularly as he traces play through the liminoid Paperback Very intresting and well written making difficult terms and ideas easy to understand Paperback How is social action related to aesthetics and anthropology to theatre What is the meaning of such concepts as work play liminal and flow In this highly influential book Turner elaborates on ritual and theatre persona and individual role playing and performing taking examples from American European and African societies for a greater understanding of culture and its symbols From Ritual to Theatre The Human Seriousness of PlayTurner s ideas about the role of ritual in everyday life were interesting They seem in some ways a precursor to the performative theories of people like Judith Butler but Turner as a cultural anthropologist sociologist is less focused on the construction and performance of individual identities and interested in how theatrical rituals construct communities in tribal or agrarian societies with liminal rituals rituals which are important in constituting a community and which are central to structuring the identities of every member of the community In contrast to this are liminoid rituals in which participation is optional or elective and which may be constitutive of the identities of small groups within a large society but not of the entire culture itself Paperback What the hell where is the materialist analysis How can you talk about rituals without considering the differential roles people are forced into depending on their class gender race sexuality and so on This is the most generalised non intersectional take of ritual and play I ve read Sure it s good to develop a general framework to understand social dramas but fucking hell it s like every subject mentioned is just a blank body over here over there but otherwise nowhere There s even one part near the end where the Olympic Games are called humanistic Yeah sure a great fucking ritual that s displaced poor communities and laden numerous countries with debt a Hellinistic spectacle that s run by Coca Cola McDonald s petrochemical and car manufacturers and banks with investments in military technologies. From Ritual to theatreville Fuck I hate this apolitical liberalism that doesn t take a stand on anything and yet nevertheless presents itself as something progressive Yes the body matters in ritual but that ritual takes place in a greater political space and if that political space isn t analysed then all knowledge generated is merely indicative It s just another referent in a system of positive phenomena The point of critical thinking is to move beyond this It is to take a fucking stand on the societies and cultures we are analysing so that they may be transformed Without transformation knowledge is dead weight inconsequential tidbits of data that fascinate and in fascinating steal the life out of us bit by bit until all we see is exactly all there is A changeless eternity of dispossession Headless rampant capital patriarchy and white supremacy Paperback Some fascinating and provocative ideas particularly his concept of social drama as a core narrative manifested in forms ranging from Greek tragedy to the litigation process Unfortunately this little book is a brutal jargon filled read a collection of essays only loosely connected and edited together It s also deeply rooted in 1970s academic and cultural debates that are difficult to follow for readers not well grounded in the bitter mess of the discipline of anthropology in that era The chapter on students acting out his ethnographic work was thin to the point of gaseousness and seemed to add little but self congratulation Paperback I had no prior knowledge of anthropology and virtually none of performance studies either This books make a startlingly compelling introduction to both fields being very readable and yet fascinatingly deep Turner must have been a lovely chap and as his culture easily stretches across continents and epochs his prose leaps from factual account analytical reflexions or historiographical arguments with grace and simplicity I don t think this book was written as an introduction but save for the technical discussions of Hayden White and co this I believe would make an excellent first read for anyone excited about grand theories of everything but weary of their jargons Paperback Paperback