Abstract
AbstractMuch study of ritual has focused on demarcated spaces and times of performance, and the often spectacular features of such collective behaviour provide rich resources for analysis of formal, symbolically dense action. This article shifts attention to dimensions of ritual events that entail zones of ambiguous, diffuse, or limited engagement where the boundaries between participant and non‐participant, viewer and viewed, may be unclear. Focusing on visits to the English pilgrimage site of Walsingham, I examine multiple modalities of participation through analysing the relationships among observing, engaging in, and narrating ritual action. In doing so, I develop a lexicon for the study of performances whose ethnographic profile does not stand out in sharp relief. Key terms for my analysis are ‘laterality’ (as opposed to liminality) and ‘penumbra’ (as opposed to centre).
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