Ritual Forms Research Articles

Use it or lose it ? : exploring the grey area of dormant possessions and the role of rituals in value dynamics of household objects

ABSTRACT This research examines how consumers value, over time, their possessions in the domestic space. We focus on the large amount of clothing kept in the household, given the critical issues of sustainability that are raised by this practice. Using in-depth interviews and wardrobe ethnography, we unpack the role of rituals in consumers’ valuation of these possessions. The findings show that some possessions become dormant due to various failures in rituals. Dormant possessions are those pending revalorisation, which may be carried out by consumers themselves or through their use of services, specifically those related to circular economy. We identify and theorise reinvestment rituals, a new form of rituals that allow for revalorisation and extension of the life of a possession. This research highlights the value dynamics at play in the consumer – possession relationship and has implications for a strong sustainability approach on the part of consumers, managers, and policymakers.

The Devadasi System and Intersectional Feminism

The devadasi system, originating in medieval India, began to serve the temple in the form of dance and rituals. Eventually, they served as sacred sex workers for the diety's sexual needs. The Devadasi were typically Dalits (the lowest caste), and thereby face a unique struggle as both Dalits and women in a religiously rooted system. Due to the lack of published works detailing the implications of overlapping identities and feminism on the Indian reform movement legislation, this paper aimed to examine the extent to which the introduction of intersectional feminism influenced South Indian postcolonial legislation regarding the devadasi system. It found the hypothesis to be supported. Thematic analysis was conducted as part of the initial research. Then, the results were quantified, through individual connotation scores that considered separate thematic elements and an overall score. The overall intersectionality score, a weighted average of the elements, for all prohibition legislation was significantly different from the control Panel Code, based on error bar analysis. Therefore, it can be concluded that the influence of intersectional feminism on the acts quantitatively supports the conclusion that the development of intersectional feminism in post-colonial South India influenced Devadasi legislation significantly.

Presence, Power, and Agency: Donor Portraits in Early Gandharan Art

The aim of this paper is to shed light on locally constructed sculptural representations of donors and devotees from Butkara I in Swat valley – one of the earliest Buddhist sites in the Greater Gandhara region. The discovery of several sculptures and architectural elements depicting elaborately adorned male and female figures with distinctly individualizing facial features, and bearing varied Buddhist offerings, not only throws into relief the artistic phenomenon of portraiture in early Gandharan Buddhist art but also exemplifies the visual and material enactment of donative ritual and practice. The appropriation of a transcultural and widely legible visual vocabulary for constructing these essentially Buddhist figures underscores the complex cross-cultural interactions and encounters underpinning Gandharan art and Buddhist practice in the early centuries of the Common Era. The paper argues that, in addition to relic establishment and donative inscriptions, the ruling aristocrats used donor portraits for the material and metaphorical embodiment of their presence and piety within the Buddhist monastic space. Moreover, these images likely served as public performances for effectively navigating the broader political and socio-cultural currents. Speaking to diverse communities in the multicultural matrix of Gandhara, these donor portraits highlight the participation of visual imagery in constructing new forms of ritual and practice predicated upon the intertwined notions of power, patronage, and religiosity.

Divorce Rites as a Way of Dealing with a Life Course Transition: The Case of Contemporary Italy

In Western culture, divorce is becoming a transition event in individual life courses. As a result, it starts to be celebrated in ritual forms. In Italy, divorce is still a highly deritualized event from both civil and religious perspectives, although the transformations that make divorce a transition event have been occurring in recent years. This article depicts the complexities of divorce in a society such as Italy, where instances of social change coexist with strong elements of tradition. Emerging cultural practices related to couple dissolution in both formal and informal contexts are discussed. Structural determinants emerge as a force that can contribute to shaping the divorce rite as a new rite of passage.

INTERAKSI METABOLISME MANUSIA-ALAM: ENVIRONMENTAL ETHIC MASYARAKAT ADAT JUHU DALAM PENGELOLAAN HUTAN

In the midst of the rise of the ruling anthropocentric disposition, there is still, a group of people who reject the disposition that symbolizes selfishness and lean more towards the disposition of ecocentrism. This study aims to find and describe the way people view and interpret their forests and discover values related to ecocentrism ethics. Data collection techniques used observation techniques, interviews and documentation, as well as focus group discussions and strengthened by secondary data from literature studies. This research is field research, with a qualitative approach. The research was carried out in Juhu Village, Batang Alai Timur District, Hulu Sungai Tengah Regency, South Kalimantan. The results showed that the people of Juhu Village have a very strong attachment to the forest where they live. Judging from various activities and activities in the form of rituals, there is always an element of respect for nature. Juhu society is very dependent on nature. A form of ecocentrism in the Juhu community, starting from local wisdom and daily activities that are considered ordinary even though they contain management values. Nowadays, people are starting to make movements to reject actions or decisions that could destroy the environment in which they live, by being more courageous to speak out. Juhu people no longer rely solely on local knowledge, they also use technology as a supporting tool. In the future, the Juhu community will be more courageous in voicing opinions and desires about sustainability values.

Galenosfera w liturgii

The publications of the late Bishop Adam Lepa (1939–2022) deal with the topic of the galenosphere as an environment of silence and its role in life and in the process of human education. A special and specific form of the galenosphere are those environments of silence that concern the sacrum. In this context, it is possible to speak of the importance of silence obligatory during the celebration of liturgy. The aim of the study is to show the nature and role of the galenosphere characteristic of the liturgy. Starting from an explanation of the concept of the galenosphere, the author of the study then goes on to show the close relationship that develops between silence and mystery on the basis of the analysis of the writings of Odo Casel (1886–1948), a Benedictine monk from the Abbey of Maria Lach in the Rhineland, founder of the mystery theory in sacramentology and an outstanding theologian of the liturgy. In Odo Casel’s optics, silence is a ritual form of personal participation in Christ’s action, which is realised on the sacramental plane, and not merely an expression of subjective piety. The aim of liturgical silence is therefore to pursue the mystery communion with the Logos. The next section of the paper, based on an analysis of the General Introduction to the Roman Missal, presents the location of moments of silence in the structure of the Eucharistic celebration, their theological and liturgical justification and their normative character. The final section of the article is devoted to the typology of liturgical silence. It discusses its following types: reflective, internalizing, meditative and adorative silence. It concludes by pointing out pastoral aspects related to the great importance of silence in the process of implementing the conciliar principle of participatio actuosa. Liturgical silence cannot be identified with “an inner haven in which to hide oneself in some sort of intimate isolation”, but is “a symbol of the presence and action of the Holy Spirit” (Pope Francis, Apostolic Letter Desiderio desideravi, no. 52). In this perspective of the pneumatological significance of moments of silence in liturgical celebrations, the demand to educate clergy and lay faithful to perform the symbolic gesture of silence with great care is particularly relevant from the point of view of liturgical formation.

Symbols and rituals are alive and well in clinical practice in Australia: Perspectives from a longitudinal qualitative professional identity study

Purpose Many factors impact an individual’s professional identity on their journey to becoming a doctor, including their experiences, the learning environment, role models, and symbols and rituals. Rituals and symbols associated with the medical profession have historically included wearing a white coat (now rare) and the stethoscope. This study explored two medical students’ perspectives of symbolic identifiers in a six-year longitudinal study in Australia (2012–2017). Methodology A 2012 qualitative cross-sectional qualitative professional identity study in an Australian five-year undergraduate medical programme was extended to a longitudinal study with annual interviews. A conversation about the symbolism of the stethoscope and other identifiers began in Year 1 and concluded when the students were junior doctors. Findings Symbols and rituals remain part of the ‘becoming’ and ‘being’ a doctor. In the context of Australian hospitals, the stethoscope appears to no longer be exclusively associated with the medical profession, with ‘professional attire’ distinguishing medical students and doctors from other team members (uniform). The study identified lanyard colour and design as a symbol and language as a ritual. Conclusions Although symbols and rituals may change over time and across cultural contexts, some forms of treasured material possessions and rituals will persist in medical practice. Practice points On the journey of ‘becoming’ and eventually ‘being’ a doctor, many factors influence the development of an individual’s professional identity, not least symbols and rituals. For a range of reasons, e.g. cultural, contamination, symbols and rituals change but will be replaced. In Australia, and perhaps in other similar contexts, The stethoscope, once seen as an extension of a doctor’s anatomy, may no longer be perceived as such, making way for other identifiers such as lanyards and ‘professional attire.’ COVID-19 may influence some symbols and rituals, but this will depend on the persistence of SARS-CoV-2 variants.

The Contributors

In India the contemporary city is largely defined by its kinetic condition, that is its movement and the place-making of its residents in the form of festivals, rituals, impromptu bazaars, and events. The kinetic city has largely replaced the static city (its physical architecture) as the primary and most dynamic aspect of urban India. In light of this, conservation students and professionals who work and study in India must look to the kinetic city for their cues when assessing significaixce and developing conservation plans or interventions. Architectural conservation programmes need to broaden their scope of concerns to reach beyond the material fabric to include the expertise of urban planning and the motivation and vision of local community groups. It will only be through the integration of these diverse actors that architectural conservation will bridge the objects of the past with the motion of the present and the direction of the future. If conservation of the built heritage in India is to be relevant (useful) it will need to embrace the kinetic city and accommodate the dance of its residents.

The dead pig's photo album: Affective visual rituals in collective identity formation

Recent research on visually mediated activism has focused on visual practices as forms of political expression. Conversely, this article will demonstrate that visuality is not only used for protest mobilisation, but that it also plays a significant role in solidifying movement-internal collective identity through a set of distinct visual rituals that produce a shared understanding through affect. Based on an ethnography of everyday visual practices and social experiences of visuality (online and offline) in the Save Movement's ‘Pig Save’ protest events, we identify three forms of affective visual rituals: (1) witnessing; (2) mourning; and (3) semiotic rituals. We argue that these visual rituals are not only expressions of shared values, but construct collective political identity through backstage visual emotion work (affect).

KEARIFAN LOKAL DAN UPAYA PELESTARIAN LINGKUNGAN AIR: STUDI ETNOGRAFI MASYARAKAT ADAT MANGGARAI, FLORES, NUSA TENGGARA TIMUR

The efforts and conservation actions are needed to obtain a clean water for consumption. One of such efforts is interpreting the traditions of indigenous peoples, which are directly related to the concept of nature conservation. This study aims to identify and describe the meaning and geographical aspects of the barong wae ritual practice of the Manggarai indigenous people in the context of preserving the water environment. This research was a qualitative descriptive study with an ethnographic approach. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, participatory observation, and documentation. Results show that local wisdom in the form of the barong wae ritual contains knowledge, ethics, values, and norms that are directly related to the efforts to protect the water environment. This is reflected in the meaning of the symbols, the selection of locations, and the involvement of indigenous peoples as a form and means of human interaction with the environment, especially the water environment. In conclusion, local cultural values, ethics, moral standards, and norms embodied in symbols, locations, and community involvement in the implementation of barong wae cultural rites must be preserved for the survival and sustainability of the natural environment, especially the water environment, for the next generation.

Decoding Biblical Ritual in Cultural Actions

The purpose of the work is to indicate the compensatory content in Vasilkov's concept (according to A. Kanarskyi) of ritual-biblical traces in literary works and examples of fine art, based on a cultural approach to recognition. Research methodology is based on such methods as culturological interdisciplinary, analytical, comporative, historical and descriptive, art criticism and style, hermeneutic based on the aesthetics of Kanarskyi's compensatory. Scientific novelty of the research. For the first time in Ukraine, the positions of decoding biblical rituals in artistic actions were formulated on the basis of the philosophical concept of Kanarskyi’s recognition. Display in the concept of Durkheim, Vasilkov and Kanarsky in the art criticism dimension of the works of Shevchenko, Gogol and Storozhenko is also original. Conclusions. Approaches to the method of recognising biblical and ritual traces in the works of Shevchenko, Gogol and Storozhenko are outlined in the context of the ritual of sacrifice and hagiographic measurements of the presentation of the main character’s characteristics. Recognition of the compensatory action of transformation-dematerialisation in Storozhenko's painting «Premonition of Golgotha» takes place through the use of the watercolor technique in oil painting. The ritual root in artistic acts is recognised, which makes it possible to realise the significance of the cultural influence of art without the participation of a special aesthetic and artistic principle of capturing the significance of creative products. As an action, biblical rituals nourish plot conflicts, which are considered as the actions of characters in literary works and fine arts. As an idea, biblical rituals fertilise the structure of the image, plastic-textured embodiment and compositional standards. As a symbol of sublime life activity, biblical rituals inspire the dramaturgy of comparisons, in contrast to the life-like "development" of the theatre. As a component of being, biblical ritual forms the basis of works of art and leads to the recognition of a ritual genesis in them, "fertilising" them with the content and density of the ideological and figurative expression.
 Key words: biblical rituals, recognition, compensatory, expressive means of literature and fine arts, works of art.

The Kāffah of Islamic Scale: Development and Validation

Prudent study and analysis of the religiosity instruments that have been circulating it are found that there are many variations of instruments measuring the religiosity of Muslims. This is due to differences in the conceptual constructs used by the researchers as the basis for developing such instruments. The use of concepts and instruments that are not based on Islamic religiosity has the potential to distance the measuring instrument from what psychological behavior to be measured, while the measuring instrument based on Islamic religiosity is also not yet fully solid, in line, and be close to each other with Islam. Dissatisfaction with the instruments based on the constructs and instruments of Islamic religiosity that have been compiled has encouraged researchers to develop religious instruments based on Islamic teachings in a precise and solid manner. This instrument is called the Kāffah of Islamic Scale (KIS). The results of the psychometric test and empirical data show that the Kāffah of Islamic Scale (KIS) has a good factor structure through the testing phase of the unidimensional fit model. The Kāffah of Islamic Scale (KIS) measuring instrument consists of five dimensions, namely belief, formal ritual, interpersonal, personal, and morality. There are 33 valid items to measure the Islamic construct of the kāffah composed of five items representing the belief dimension, six items representing the formal dimension of ritual, thirteen items representing interpersonal relationships, twelve items representing the personal dimension, and three items representing the morality dimension. Overall, the results of this research provide preliminary evidence to support the use of the Kāffah of Islamic of Scale (KIS) as a measurement tool that has conceptual and psychometric strengths.

Eye Painting Ritual, Bull Sacrifice and the Myth of the Eye of Horus in Ancient Egypt

In the predynastic period, the funeral rite included the main rituals: supplying water to the deceased, food in the form of a bull’s front leg and staining the eyelids with green paint. In the protodynastic and early dynastic periods, the idea of ​​a luminous beginning was embodied in the image of a bull. On the ceremonial palettes, the bull and calf act as a sacrificial animal. This gives grounds to analyze the materials on the origins of the convergence and even intersection of the ritual of painting the eyes and the sacrifice of the bull in the written period in the context of their involvement in the myth of the Eye of Horus. The ritualized form of the myth was reflected in the images and motives inherent in a society that was at the stage of state formation − in the scenes of confrontation and battle between the supporters of the supreme ruler — the people of God Horus with enemies. Later, in written sources, this idea, clothed in mythical imagery, was preserved as the core in of the myth about the Eye of deity Horus.

Gender and Genre: Women's Performance Practices in Dersim

Abstract Significant numbers of ethnographic studies from different parts of the world emphasize lament as a women's genre, with cross-cultural analyses indicating that women predominate among the genre's performers. These performances are often signified by ritual wailing, but researchers typically overlook how the genre is given ritual form through mundane activities in everyday life. Everyday experience and ritual experience are often cast as contradictory. Everyday speech and poetic discourse have been mainly separated in the literature. Rather than positing two distinct selves opposed to each other in everyday speech and in performance, it makes more sense to argue that the poetic self may contain contradictory statements. Focusing on the women's performance practices in Dersim, a region in eastern Turkey, where Zazaki- and Kurdish-speaking Alevis live, I consider how classification of genres relates to gender and power. Rather than associating the possibility of raising one's voice with resisting the social order, I attempt to explore the genre's contextualization process and its connections to women's agency.

The possibility of using psychotherapeutic elements of traditional Chinese drama in modern theatrical culture

The article is devoted to the study of the history of theatrical therapy in the no-si ritual drama. It is shown that, in general, the ritual elements of the no-si drama can be used in modern drama therapy. In addition, dramatic therapy, which is implied by the author in this article, is somewhat different from the modern concept of psychodrama, since it covers large areas of the human psyche. The author believes that it is not necessary to completely ignore this complex area of human culture, because regardless of function or form, dramatic therapy is closely related to the shamanic ritual of healing. The formation of the Chinese national drama took place in the context of the historical development of China. Having originated in the most ancient forms of shamanic rituals, the theatrical performance has evolved into a unique stage genre. Along with other earliest theatrical forms such as ancient Greek theater and ancient Indian drama, Chinese opera originated several centuries before our era, but unlike them it has survived to this day almost unchanged. Now Chinese traditional opera occupies an important place in the list of intangible heritage not only of China itself, but also of the whole world. One of the most important milestones in the development of theatrical art in China was the ritual drama "no-si", which today the ritual drama no-si in China is called a real "living fossil", because it is the oldest cultural form that has come down to us through the centuries. Archaic religious rituals, reflected in modern theatrical performances, testify to the mixing and syncretization of various religious traditions, including no-rituals and no-si drama, and modernity. The current generation is successfully modernizing the tradition of its ancestors in accordance with the times, preserving it in the centuries-old cultural memory of its people.

Unburials and Skeletal Reconstructions: Narrative as Forensics in Michael Ondaatje's Anil's Ghost

Social scientists know how crucial it is to identify the bodies of the men, women and children who have died at sea or on land, or have been buried in mass burial grounds, and how consequential it is to engage (or not) in some form of ritual, of memorialization. If some scholars have focused on locating and numbering those victims, others have used forensic science to identify the bodies so that the families can get them back, engage in mourning and continue to live. Others, still, interrogate the lost objects of the death-bound migration. This essay will focus on a novel that deals with the exhumation and identification of bones in a civil war context. In Michael Ondaatje's Anil's Ghost, Sri Lankan-born and North American-educated Anil Tissera goes back to Sri Lanka as a forensic anthropologist. She is sent by a human rights group to investigate mass burials during the Civil War and genocide of the Sri Lankan Tamils, thus returning from her diasporic abode after 15 years. In Anil's forensic search for identification, with bones being literally unearthed, what does the literary text perform for those lost or unidentified bodies that could not be accomplished otherwise? What kind of engagement does it offer? Using the angle of forensics and its Latin etymology, this essay will formulate the hypothesis that the literary text enables justice to be delivered in an open court of law (forensis). Moving beyond the stigmatization of the unritual, it will probe the fraught relationship between literature and forensics, investigating the possibility that the narrative, its staging of the unidentified body of the dead, and our relationship to it, could create a public space to be shared by all (forum).

The landscapes of lives I: An action landscape approach to practices and the interface of individual and society

AbstractPractices occupy the intersection of human behavior with its personal and societal dimensions, operating in social theory as bridges between high‐order cultural features and on‐the‐ground dynamics that reciprocally shape the conditions of everyday life and animate human experience. Yet precisely how this bridging occurs remains underspecified. We address that gap in this and a companion article (Worthman, Cummings, and Lende 2023). This article situates practices in dynamic action space, while the second details how those dynamics work and applies them to questions of inequity, resilience, and contemplative practice. We trace a spectrum of practices from mundane activities to formal rituals and self‐transformational pursuits. We then situate them within a socioecological framework, drawing on the visual metaphor of Charles Waddington's epigenetic landscape to represent fields of possible practices or action landscapes that are contingent, situated, and dynamically configured to constitute the middle ground bridging social actors and lived experience with sociocultural worlds.

Digitalisierung christlicher Verkündigungsformate während der Covid19-Pandemie: Empirische Befunde und theoretische Systematisierungen aus religionswissenschaftlicher Perspektive

ZusammenfassungMit den Kontaktbeschränkungen zu Beginn der Covid19-Pandemie mussten auch religiöse Institutionen geradezu über Nacht ihre bisherigen Angebote neu denken. Gerade für Gottesdienste sind dabei häufig digitale Alternativen entwickelt worden. Der Aufsatz beleuchtet dieses emergierende Feld der Digitalisierung christlicher Verkündigungsformate und die Anschlussstellen zu bestehender religionswissenschaftlicher Forschung zu Religion und digitalen Medien. Dafür wird zunächst ein empirisch orientierter Überblick über die Digitalisierungsbemühungen der christlichen Kirchen im deutschsprachigen Raum unter Corona-Bedingungen gegeben, insbesondere unter Rückgriff auf die bisher vorliegenden statistischen Erhebungen. Auf der Grundlage qualitativer Interviews wird dann der Blick auf die Rezipient*innenperspektive auf digitale Gottesdienste gerichtet. Diese empirischen Befunde werden schließlich in Verbindung gesetzt zu bestehenden systematischen Querschnittsthemen der Forschung zu Religion und Medien, insbesondere zu den Konsequenzen digitalisierter religiöser Kommunikation für Formen religiöser Vergemeinschaftung, Raum und Ritual sowie die Selbstermächtigung religiöser Lai*innen und den Wandel religiöser Autorität. Der Aufsatz will damit auf empirischer Grundlage eine Einordnung der gegenwärtigen, Corona-induzierten Entwicklungen in den bestehenden Forschungsstand anbieten und Anschlussüberlegungen aufzeigen.

Digital Feminism in Indonesia: The Counter-Narratives to Gender Inequality on Instagram

In the last few years, many people have used cyber religion to identify new forms of religious communities and rituals. It acts as the source of religious engagement that is different, new, creative, and alienated from 'conventional' religions. This article aims to reveal how Mubadalah.id as an Instagram account plays a role in providing beautification of da'wa (Islamic preaching conveyed by Islamic scholars) in countering unjust interpretations of Islamic texts toward women. In particular, it is a representation of Islamic media and women’s rights that strengthens the capacity and authority of women ulama. They are carrying on perspectives that affirm the values ​​of reciprocity, equality, cooperation, and justice in marital, familial, and social relations. Mubadalah.id is a social media campaign affiliated with the Fahmina Foundation, a notable Muslim organization that promotes gender equality in Indonesia. This article is qualitative research. Using a virtual ethnography method, this article aims to understand the strategy used by this account to counter gender inequality narratives. This article argues that Instagram can be optimized to build a moderate gender construction in countering the mainstreaming of patriarchal ideas on social media by supplying alternative interpretations served in beautified content. In addition, this account shows the representation of women's ulama in Indonesian public spaces to negotiate their identity in a Muslim-majority country.

Mnemodrama in Action: An Introduction to the Theatre of Alessandro Fersen by John C. Green (review)

Reviewed by: Mnemodrama in Action: An Introduction to the Theatre of Alessandro Fersen by John C. Green Scott Venters MNEMODRAMA IN ACTION: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE THEATRE OF ALESSANDRO FERSEN by John C. Green Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2019, pp. 215. Mnemodrama in Action draws Polish-Italian theatrical anthropologist Alessandro Fersen (1911–2001) out from the shadow of his younger contemporary Grotowski. Fersen is best known for his unique stage adaptations beginning in the 1940s at Teatro Stabile in Genoa and the foundation of his Roman acting studio where, over the course of several decades, he transformed Stanislavskian protocols into an idiosyncratic experimental form called Mnemodrama. In brief, Mnemodrama is “the actualization in dramatic-oneiric form, of an event or trauma that emerges from the unconscious of the performer and which is expressed scenically” (6). Green’s book makes a convincing argument for the vital place of Fersen’s laboratory practice, which anticipated most of the notoriously radical experiments of the 1960s. To accomplish this, Green historically incarnates several lines of thought. First, he posits Fersen as a continuation and development of early avant-gardist anti-literary critique and aesthetic politicization. Second, Green situates Fersen’s Mnemodramatic discoveries in the long-running occidental conversation concerning the application of anthropological research to performance practices. Third, he translates and introduces Fersen’s crucial tracts rife with empirical discoveries, multicultural musings on origins, and polemical jabs. The result of Green’s efforts is the revivification of one who speaks uncynically of experience in the first-person plural, who ponders sincerely, not skeptically, shared provenance and intercultural transmission, and who believes in the incantatory, ecstatic power of dramatic praxis. For those looking for the familiar, unobstructed path followed in the argumentative monograph, Green’s Mnemodrama in Action will prove frustrating. That frustration is undoubtedly intentional, caused by a disjunct between disciplinary preconceptions and a text that alluringly mimics the exploratory mechanics of Fersen’s studio work. Green structures his book into two main sections: 1. an artistic biography and studio development of Mnemodrama; 2. selected writings of Fersen on Mnemodrama and the cultural responsibilities of performance. Part one adumbrates a definitional apparatus for Mnemodrama and then moves through a chronology of its consummate realization. The ensuing chronology of this actualization is a turbid one, functioning as a dialectical process with Mnemodrama’s ontogenetic embodiment oscillating between intercultural frictions and studio refinements. According to Green (chapter 2), Fersen’s inchoate formula for Mnemodrama occurred in the crucible of Nietzschean thought, the anthropology of Lucien Levy-Bruhl, and Luigi Pirandello’s emphasis on social role playing. Influenced by this menagerie of thinkers, Fersen, in his dissertation The Universe as a Game, argued for a return to “creative abandonment” via mythopoesis and spontaneous play. Subsequent work with Charles Dullin in Paris bolstered Fersen’s anti-statist “nostalgia for the ‘primitive’” increasingly shaped into collective ritual forms and given polemical thrust in three manifestos published in the wake of WWII (14). Like Artaud before him, Fersen attacked the literary proclivities and industrial inclinations of modern theatre. His critique eventually materialized in a surrealist cabaret created in collaboration with Emanuelle Luzzati, Nottambuli, an event that simultaneously brought Fersen into conflict with authorities and served as a model for the establishment of his laboratory, The Fersen Studio of Scenic Arts, in Rome in 1957. In chapter 3, Green cites three phases of Fersen’s laboratory experiments following a general arc moving away from individuated role playing and spoken dialogue associated with realistic methods of actor training toward gestural group dramas performed with abstract props granting passage to the manumitted unconscious. From 1957 to 1961 Fersen led [End Page 109] investigations from the starting point of Stanislavski’s psychophysical training with stress placed on scenic improvisations, but that starting point soon proved insufficient in accessing unconscious states. Exposure to Carnivale and Condomble cults in Bahia actuated Fersen not to abandon occidental mimetic practices, but rather, in the vein of Nietzsche, to place them in a binaristic agon with forms of ritual while hoping to discover those contact points in the struggle “when Ritual becomes Theatre” (41). This, Fersen, was coming to believe could be done only by releasing the...