Models and Mirrors

Ritual is one of the most discussed cultural practices, yet its treatment in anthropological terms has been seriously limited, characterized by a host of narrow conceptual distinctions. One major reason for this situation has been the prevalence of positivist anthropologies that have viewed and summarized ritual occasions first and foremost in terms of their declared and assumed functions. By contrast, this book, which has become a classic, investigates them as epistemological phenomena in their own right. Comparing public events - a domain which includes ritual and related occasions - the author argues that any public event must first be comprehended through the logic of its design. It is the logic of organization of an occasion which establishes in large measure what that occasion is able to do in relation to the world within which it is created and practiced.

ISBN 1571811656   DEWEY edition DC21 ISBN13 9781571811653 (What's this?)   Pages 340 Publisher Berghahn Books   Weight (grammes) 447 Imprint Berghahn Books   Published in Oxford Format Paperback   Height (mm) 230 Publication date 01 Oct 1998   Width (mm) 146 Library of Congress GT3930.H34   Academic level Undergraduate, Postgraduate, Professional / Scholarly DEWEY 390

"Handelman's work expands our understanding of symbolic practice. [It is] particularly profound for the analysis of ritual but those in other fields inside and outside anthropology will discover a wealth of insight and fruit for the nourishment of their own ideas and research." * Semiotica "This set of well-linked essays is the work of a mature scholar concerned with devising a theory and method for the cross-cultural analysis of public events of what some would call rituals.Models and Mirrors is dense without being obscure, reflective without being self-obsessed, up todate - containing sophisticated discussions of play, performance, uncertainty, and hegemony - without being trendy ... intellectually invigorating." * Journal of Anthropological Research "... stands out as a major achievement and an important contributions to the study of the theory and practice of rituals ..." * Journal of American Folklore "... Handelman has here succeeded in suggesting an empirically reflexive, judiciously postmodern idiom of analysis that resuscitates concepts of system without imposing authoritative closure." * American Ethnologist "Astounding comparative breadth. Berghahn Books is to be commended for reissuing at an affordable price the most challenging theoretical work on ritual written in the late twentieth century." * Religious Studies Review

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