Everyday Rituals Research Articles

Past Continuous: Newsworthiness and the Shaping of Collective Memory

This study explores the multi-layered interrelations between the production of news and collective remembering. We investigate this phenomenon by analyzing television newscasts aired on Israel's Memorial Day for the Holocaust and Heroism (MDHH), 1994–2007. These newscasts provide a rich research corpus because they stand at the intersection between two types of rituals: the everyday ritual of newsmaking, and the national commemorative ritual, for which the media serves as a main site of articulation. The article implements a “zoom in” perspective: first, we examine the broadcasting schedules, exploring the role of newscasts in the process of leading the audiences in and out of the commemorative ritual. Next, we suggest a typology distinguishing between (a) items dealing with current events, (b) commemorative items focusing on Holocaust remembrance, and (c) dog whistle items that are “attuned” to the specific cultural ear and thus enable mundane news items to be interpreted as related to Holocaust commemoration. We argue that the dual aim of the items featured in MDHH newscasts–to provide both news values and commemorative values–leads to the construction of “reversed memory,” a narrative that commemorates past events (the “there and then”) by narrating present events (the “here and now”). Reversed memory commemorates the difficult past through the achievements of the present, and thus not only eases the collective confrontation with painful traumas, but rather avoids this encounter altogether.

Sport and Spectatorship as Everyday Ritual in Ben Shahn's Painting and Photography

Ben Shahn's paintings and photographs of sport and spectatorship made during the 1930s form part of a cultural discourse concerned to explore social relationships and everyday life in America. The position of sport within this discourse is established through a discussion of Morris Kantor's ‘Baseball at Night' (1934), and through reference to contemporary statements and cultural histories of the period. Close attention to Shahn's documentary photographs of sport, spectatorship and leisure demonstrates the way that these images fit into a wider visual analysis of the conditions wrought by the Depression and the facets of small-town life. These photographs, and the later paintings based on them, reveal the personal, ritualised qualities of sport and spectatorship as well as their social significance. This shift in emphasis towards an exploration of the personal, private significance of sport in works such as ‘Vacant Lot’ (1939) corresponds with Shahn's own account of his artistic journey through the decade.

The cult of saints in medieval Perth: everyday ritual and the materiality of belief

This article explores everyday ritual practice in medieval Perth, particularly with respect to the cult of saints (including saints’ dedications) and as evidenced by material culture. The author deliberately focuses on one site, the Perth High Street plot excavated in 1975—1977, and its rich crop of devotional and ritual objects in an attempt to understand ritual and religious practice in a particular time and place.

Where music helps: community music therapy in action and reflection

Contents: Part I: Introduction: music and health in community Situating authors and projects Initial dialogue, Brynjulf Stige, Gary Ansdell, Cochavit Elefant and Mercedes Pavlicevic. Part II: Action: musicing on the edge: musical minds in East London, England Reflection: belonging through musicing: explorations of musical community, Gary Ansdell. Part III: Action: - must we really end? Community integration of children in Raanana, Israel Reflection: musical inclusion, intergroup relations, and community development, Cochavit Elefant. Part IV: Action: because it's cool. Community music therapy in Heideveld, South Africa Reflection: let the music work: optimal moments of collaborative musicing, Mercedes Pavlicevic. Part V: Action: a society for all? The cultural festival in Sogn og Fjordane, Norway Reflection: musical participation, social space, and everyday ritual, Brynjulf Stige. Part VI: Action: can everything become music? Scrap Metal in southern England Reflection: where performing helps: processes and affordances of performance in community music therapy, Gary Ansdell. Part VII: Action: whose voice is heard? Performances and voices in the Renanim Choir in Israel Reflection: giving voice: participatory action research with a marginalized group, Cochavit Elefant. Part VIII: Action: music in an ambiguous place: youth development outreach in Eersterust, South Africa Reflection: crime, community, and everyday practice: music therapy as social activism, Mercedes Pavlicevic. Part IX: Action: caring for music: the Senior Choir in Sandane, Norway Reflection: practising music as mutual care, Brynjulf Stige. Part X: Conclusion: when things take shape in relation to music: towards an ecological perspective on music's help, Brynjulf Stige, Gary Ansdell, Cochavit Elefant and Mercedes Pavlicevic Bibliography Index.

Pinning the Butterfly: Women, Blue-Collar and Ethnic Minority MPs vis-à-vis Parliamentary Norms and the Parliamentary Role of the Group Representative

This article deals with the apparent contradiction between, on the one hand, parliaments as envisaged by neo-institutionalists as stable and stabilising institutions and, on the other hand, the societal desire to diversify political personnel and to open up political decision-making processes to include group interests that were under-represented in the past. To answer the question whether and to what extent norms have changed to embrace diversity in parliament, the authors investigate everyday rituals, including role behaviour. Based on a focus group interview and a series of individual interviews with women, ethnic minority and blue-collar MPs in the Belgian Chamber, the article concludes that these groups are more likely to adapt themselves than to change parliamentary norms. Regarding the role of the group representative, the major finding is that it cannot be seen as a sign of parliament truly and positively embracing diversity. Moreover, it might even be interpreted as a strategy to address the request for diversity without changing existing power relations.

Organizational Shunning: The Disciplinary Functions of “Non-Sense”

Focusing on the symbolic processes that create “outsiders-within,” this article examines the discourse surrounding employees within an organization who are excluded from the everyday rites and rituals that signify organizational membership. What symbolic constructions typify the discourse of those who fall between the cracks of the day-to-day cultural system? Rather than assume that organizational shunning is an infrequent and brief process, this analysis illustrates how the organized silence invoked during shunning transforms organizational paradoxes and competing values into individual personality problems that can be safely located outside the boundaries of the sense-making processes of the organization. In this way, organizational shunning functions as a disciplinary practice that affirms power relations and simultaneously reifies partisan decision-making premises and priorities.

Специфіка використання методів візуальної соціології у дослідженні воєнної організації

The author clarifies the innovative potential of the methods of visual sociology in the study of the sociocultural field of a military organization and studies the peculiarities of the culture of military formations, by analyzing the military photos made during the First and Second World wars, photos of servicemeninternationalists, veterans of Afganistan, and participants of the Chechnya companies. The photos taken from the archives of contemporary military units reflect the structural elements of the army everyday life, symbols, rituals, and traditions of a military organization.

Abendrituale: Umrisse einer ethnografischen Liturgik

Abstract An example of the perspective of subjective experience in the liturgical diversity of postmodern society is studied. Qualitative and quantitative data are given and discussed. Insights in the function and commonness of everyday rituals pose questions to the theology of worship.

Embodied Masculinity: Sex and Sport in a (Post) Colonial Chinese City

AbstractThis article examines the historical formation of local masculine identity in the city of Dalian in north-east China. I argue that the experiences of Dalian-Chinese men under Japanese colonialism (1905–45) established a model of masculine identity based on bodily resistance. The article explores Dalian men's encounter with colonialism by comparing two different forms of bodily experience: military calisthenics in Japanese-run schools for Chinese boys and street soccer. On the one hand, military calisthenics impressed Chinese schoolboys with a sense of subjugation focused on the body. Bodily movements were performed under the strict scrutiny of Japanese drill masters and formed an integral part of everyday rituals of obedience. On the other hand, street soccer emerged as a popular and potentially creative activity among Chinese schoolboys. In contrast with the controlled motions of military calisthenics, soccer offered a sense of freedom in its unrestricted and improvised movements. Matches against Japanese teams even more explicitly infused soccer with a spirit of nationalistic resistance. In conclusion, I argue that these bodily experiences are crucial to understanding the historical reformations of Dalian male gender identity.

Notes towards a politics of Bartleby The ignorance of chicken

Niels Bohr provided the perfect example of how a fetishist disavowal of belief works in ideology: seeing a horse-shoe on his door, the surprised visitor said that he didn't believe in the superstition that it brings luck, to which Bohr snapped back: 'I also do not believe in it; I have it there because I was told that it works also if one does not believe in it!' This is how ideology works today in our epoch, which presents itself as 'post-ideological': we practice our beliefs, even if, consciously, we do not take them seriously. The disavowed ideological dimension is inscribed in everyday material practices and rituals, especially in the apparently innocent reference to pure utility (a man who lives in a large city and owns a Land Rover doesn't simply lead a no-nonsense, 'down to earth' life; rather, he owns such a car in order to signal that he leads his life under the sign of a no-nonsense, 'down to earth' attitude).

What mothers do: everyday routines and rituals and their impact upon young children’s use of drawing for meaning making

This paper draws upon evidence from a three‐year longitudinal study of young children drawing across home, pre‐school and school. The study shows how the belief systems of significant adults and more able peers/siblings impact upon the child’s access to, use of and beliefs about drawing. Concentrating upon the children when in the Foundation Stage (aged between three and five), the paper highlights: • the importance of the mother’s role in organizing the home space, the child’s time and his or her access to materials; • gendered responses to an environment in which the mother is a constant presence in comparison with the limited presence of the father.

The oldest cuisine in the world: cooking in Mesopotamia

In this intriguing blend of the commonplace and the ancient, Jean Bottero presents the first extensive look at the delectable secrets of Mesopotamia. Bottero's broad perspective takes us inside the religious rites, everyday rituals, attitudes and taboos, and even the detailed preparation techniques involving food and drink in Mesopotamian high culture during the second and third millenniums BCE, as the Mesopotamians recorded them. Offering everything from translated recipes for pigeon and gazelle stews to the contents of medicinal teas and broths and the origins of ingredients native to the region, this book reveals the cuisine of one of history's most fascinating societies. Links to the modern world, along with incredible re-creations of a rich, ancient culture through its cuisine, make Bottero's guide an entertaining and mesmerizing read.

Connecting mothers and sons

Beauty is in the details. Often small things carry an important emotional undertone that determines whether or how we enjoy an event or a product. In this article, we describe how small details of everyday routines were incorporated in the design of a hi-tech communication appliance. As ID-StudioLab’s entry to the Microsoft Research Design Expo 2003, the student team “Mamasboys” wanted to design a communication appliance that would enhance the affective value of the communication between relatives living far apart. The students all had experienced such situations when they left their parents behind to pursue their university education. Most communication devices we use nowadays are designed for focused, conscious use. Often the primary concern is functionality: telephones with voicemail, for instance, are designed around the process of sending and storing fragments of audio. However, people typically communicate in a richer context, where functional, emotional, and social relationships are interwoven. Products which do not take this into consideration in the design process, and which are purely functional, fail to fulfill our needs. Communication devices, in particular, need to reflect and support the emotional bonds between family members, rather than only transmit factual information. Such a device would have to be less imposing, but fully engaging and flexible enough to blend in with the everyday rituals of parent and child.

Ritual works and practices: a case study from a Muslim community in Cambodia

The function of the ritual is to assert a transcendental power over everyday experience and rituals therefore tend to be formalized, repetitive and conservative events. The purpose of this paper is to show the importance for ritual studies of ritualised strategies for the negotiation of power and influence. Here, research on a spirit possession cult among the Muslim Cham in Cambodia will serve as an empirical basis for a discussion of the open-ended and unbounded features of ritual in contemporary society, since the performances of this cult may be seen both as a kind of "state ritual" and as exorcism. Through the cult, the Cham tend to take refuge in their memories of the distant past rather than in their more immediate memories of terror and political violence, during the civil war and the Khmer Rouge regime. Rephrased as songs of the spirits, the present and the past intermingle in narrating the difficulties, the conflicts and the struggle in the world of the spirits who live next to, and mingle in, the world of ordinary human beings.

:The Magical Universe: Everyday Ritual and Magic in Pre-Modern Europe

:<i>The Magical Universe: Everyday Ritual and Magic in Pre-Modern Europe</i>

Historical writing about everyday life

'Everyday life' is an enigmatic term which eludes a straightforward or universal definition. The notion is less precise and more complicated than it looks. One reason may be that since 'everyday life' and the categories with which it is described are constituted within specific cultural and historical contexts, we face a host of (often contradictory) concepts.l Yet all approaches to everyday life in contemporary historical writing do have something in common: a concern with the world of ordinary experience (as opposed to society in the abstract) as their point of departure, together with an attempt to view daily life as problematic, in the sense of showing that behaviour or values which are taken for granted in one society are dismissed as self-evidently absurd in another (cf. Burke 1991: 11). For some time historians and social anthropologists have been trying to uncover the latent rules of daily life. The everyday includes actions, which could be defined as the 'realm of routine' (Braudel), and also attitudes, which may be labelled mental habits. Another important aspect in the context of everyday life is ritual. On the one hand, as a marker of special occasions in the life of individuals and communities, ritual is often defined in opposition to the everyday. On the other hand, outsiders and visitors notice everyday rituals such as ways of eating or forms of greeting in the life of every society, which the locals fail to perceive as rituals at all. In this introduction we attempt, first of all, to present some general conceptual and methodological issues which have evolved around the concept of everyday life in European, especially German history. The German debate about 'Alltag' is illuminating, because the discussions have been conducted in an often fierce and 'fundamentalist' way and thus highlight a number of problems inherent in this notion. While the concept of 'everyday life' has provoked a widely recognized and often highly controversial debate in European and American history, it has hitherto been more or less neglected in the context of African history. Although, as will be shown, aspects of everyday life (especially for the colonial period) have recently received increased attention in historical writings on Africa, 'everyday life' as an analytical category has seldom found its way into current Africanist debates. Thus, in order to provide a more adequate framework for research into 'everyday life in colonial Africa', we will address some of the 'achievements' and 'weaknesses' of the everyday life concept that have been discussed in the context of

The Magical Universe: Everyday Ritual and Magic in Pre-Modern Europe

The universality of the magical beliefs which have existed throughout Europe from the time of the Romans to the present has been hidden by a focus on the sensational aspects of magic, and on witch trials in particular. The Magical Universe shows how magical beliefs and practices permeated all aspects of work and of family life, and profoundly influenced the approach of men and women to health and healing, birth, marriage and death. Magic offered the hope of protection in a dangerous and uncertain world, if the correct rituals were observed. Magical beliefs borrowed from and were incorporated in church rites. Such beliefs, shared by the powerful as well as the poor, lasted remarkably late in many rural areas and have still not completely vanished.

Re-staging the Feminine in Jacques Rivette's Haut bas fragile (1995)

In Haut bas fragile/Up down fragile, Jacques Rivette restages the feminine by returning to American musical and dance hall traditions from the 1910s and 1920s. Rivette models his dance aesthetic on the New York taxi-dance hall, a source of inspiration for Henry Miller's Tropic of Capricorn. He makes use of the dancer's capacity to convey images of rebellion from social constraints, transforming the taxi-dance hall into an alternative space where three modern-day women project themselves into multiple theatrical roles, transgressing social, class, and gender boundaries. Haut bas fragile draws on the Hollywood musical's pleasurable investment in spectacle, yet his film does not offer a Hollywood vision of the musical performance that creates the image of a utopian reality. Rivette's dance hall aesthetic supplants the binary logic that structures the Hollywood musical in order to acknowledge a diversity of viewer interests not yet subsumed under the spell of narrative forms of identification. Haut bas fragile transforms the Paris landscape into a multidimensional performance space in which women become impassioned participants in, as well as observers of, the everyday rituals of the city.

How Older People Watch Television

This study has been prompted by the relatively small body of knowledge on the media use of the elderly. The aim of this study was to show how people 50 years and older use the medium television in Germany. Therefore, the 1996 television usership data collected in a representative ‘peoplemeter’ panel of about 4,800 German television households have been surveyed, processed and analyzed using standard audience research software. In 1996, Germans 50 years and above watched on average 233 min television per day. The older a person, the longer he or she watches television. Individuals 65 years and older watch television for 253 min per day. This subgroup appears to comprise the most intensive users of the medium. Men 65 years and above may be depicted as the heaviest weekend TV watchers, older women as the medium’s closest followers from Monday to Friday. Television program broadcast late in the afternoon and early in the evening have by far the best chances to be chosen by seniors. The affinity of the elderly for the medium can be explained by its potential for offering entertainment, information, and companionship, being a substitute for primary interpersonal communication, a tool for structuring time patterns and keeping up the rhythms of long-established everyday rituals. On the one hand, television can be a ‘lifeline’ and a ‘window to the outside world’ for people with little opportunity for direct, unmediated social contact, thus possibly raising their satisfaction of life. On the other hand, prolonged TV use may be seen as an indicator for the degree of loneliness and neglect of the elderly.

Everyday Ritual, Past and Present

Everyday Ritual, Past and Present