Ritual Communication Research Articles

Guilt-Tripping the Greengrocer

Two ways of reading Havel’s classic essay are proposed. According to the first, the focus is on the peculiarities of the post-totalitarian system, inhabited by the famous greengrocer, where slogans, ritual communication, pervasive manipulation, and arbitrariness prevail and power operates as if automatic and anonymous. The lines of conflict run though each person: everyone is both victim and supporter. Comparison is made with Michel Foucault’s (early) view of power, which similarly rejected seeing power as exercised by some over others, stressing power’s anonymity and pervasiveness. For Foucault, at that stage of his thinking, however, power constitutes “regimes of truth,” whereas for Havel the “power of truth” is a force that has the potential successfully to resist and subvert domination. The power of truth is that of the greengrocer and others “living within the lie” to expose and shatter the world of appearances. Havel calls on them to end their complicity. This might seem moralistic, but Havel’s view was that under post-totalitarian conditions, morality would prove the best strategy. The second reading suggests that the post-totalitarian system is the “extreme version of technological civilization and the industrial-consumer society.” But this account of power is at odds with the first, since in this view the powerless would have no prospects of resisting and overcoming domination. Havel’s account is thus political and relevant to other political contexts, raising several empirical questions concerning the dynamics of power and the conditions for the success of morally fueled protest and normative questions concerning power and responsibility.

KOMUNIKASI RITUAL GAREBEG DI KERATON YOGYAKARTA

This research reviewed ritual communication in Garebeg ceremony in Yogyakarta Palace. The Garebeg ceremonies were being held in Muslim celebrations such as of Eid al- Fitr (Garebeg Shawwal), Eid al- Adha (Garebeg large), Maulud Prophet (Garebeg Mulud). Garebeg ceremonies identically with Paredes (Gunungan), which means Yogyakarta Palace keeps the tradition and the ancestors cultural by providing Paredes to communities. This Research uses Constructivist Paradigm and Ethnographic Communication method, especially method of Speaking by Dell Hymes. The purpose of this study to determine the value of norms, attitudes and belief system of the people in the Yogyakarta Palace on Garebeg ceremony. The ritual of Javanese culture, as well as the nature and meaning of communication rituals in ceremonies Garebeg, also know the variety of communication in Garebeg ceremony. The results are seven communication phenomenon such as Tumplak Wajik, Yasa Paredes, Gladen, Garebeg Paredes, Ngabekten, Sekaten and Garebeg Mulud Dal. This research’s contributions are three communication pattern which is hijab Salem, tanda yekti and syiar Islam. This research contributes to give insight about communication patterns and ritual processions in Garebeg ceremony.

Improvisation as devotion: nāgasvaram music and ritual communication in Hindu temple festival processions

ABSTRACTThis article situates melodic improvisation in South Indian (Tamil) culture, asking why ālāpana, a melodic and unmetered genre that encourages creativity and favours time flexibility, has become the norm to accompany South Indian temple festival processions, one of the most imposing manifestations of Hindu devotion. With reference to music performance, religious praxis and history, I argue that improvisation is central to devotional, bhakti-oriented modes of worship, and part of a ritual system in which all senses are used to enhance participants’ religious experience and facilitate human–divine communication. Drawing from extensive fieldwork research in Tamil Nadu, I hope to shed new light on the production and reception of ālāpana in South Asian culture and help understand further the function and significance of sound, music, hearing and imagination in Hindu South India.

"I Fear Greeks, Even When They Bear Gifts": The Gifts of Alexios I and the Histories of the First Crusade

This article explores how analytical approaches from the study of medieval gift giving and ritualized communication can enhance our understanding of the cultural clashes between western Crusaders a...

Polarization Music Function of Bia in Context of Social Change in Culture in Community Village South District Likupang South Regency of North Minahasa North Sulawesi

The phenomenon in the Batu village community needs to be closely examined given that the bia music of the past to present is shifting and changing, due to the lack of awareness, the behavior of the society towards the Bia music. The music of this tradition is very apprehensive to see the reality of the players from year to year diminishing in quantity and quality, not many people who can play and who can play it most aged 40 years and above. The disinterest of the young generation of traditional music with the presence of communication and entertainment technology has made it easier for people to choose various types of entertainment in accordance with what they like. The theory used in this research is the theory of socio-cultural change, data collection techniques used are: interviews, observation and documentation. The data validity technique is based on the credibility criteria, using data triangulation. The result of the research shows that polarization of changes in bia music is seen in previous music functions as ritual media and communication media, now transformed into evangelism media, cultural festivals events, association, entertainment, publicity, and education and in socio-cultural changes occur Due to internal factors caused by the artist itself as a result of the musical demands into an innovation and creativity, and external factors caused by the influence of outside culture that entered and easily accepted by the community.

Pedagogical Strategies Oriented Towards Development of School Learners’ Positive Interpersonal Relations in Inclusive Education

The article analyses a social dimension of inclusive education – interpersonal relations of SEN primary learners with other pupils in the class and pedagogical strategies that target at development of school learners’ positive interpersonal relations. The researchers have distinguished four most important aspects of the social dimension in inclusive education (Koster et al., 2009; De Boer, Pijl, & Minnaert, 2010; Bossaert et al., 2013): a) friendship relations between SEN learners and other schoolchildren in the class (mutual friendship links, subgroups of learners linked by friendship); b) social interaction of SEN school children with peers (joint leisure activities, completion of assignments together, joint participation in activities); c) subjective feelings of SEN learners and their belief that they are accepted by other learners in the class; d) acceptance of SEN learners in the class (social preferences of peers and social support). The researchers also single out and indicate the barriers in building up positive relations of SEN learners with other school learners related with the abovementioned aspects: social isolation, loneliness, social exclusion and bullying.
 The article sets the following objectives: a) to identify peculiarities of development of SEN learners’ positive relations with other learners; b) to single out pedagogical strategies oriented towards development of positive interpersonal relations of SEN learners with other schoolchildren.
 The article presents the results of the qualitative research. The following aspects of development of such learners’ positive interpersonal relations are revealed: a) natural acceptance of SEN learners’ otherness seeing transformability of their abilities to communicate and learn; b) inclusion of SEN learners into interpersonal communication based on experience of social similarity and tolerance to the diversity. Such processes are encouraged by the teacher’s belief in transformability of SEN learners’ powers and demonstration of this belief in the classroom. Inclusion of SEN learners into interpersonal communication is enhanced by encouragement of social interactions between SEN children and other class learners in the natural school environment: creation of communication rituals, situations, practices and spaces, initiation of acceptance, mediation and assistance to SEN learners.

RITUAL PETIK LAUT DAN KERAGAMAN (KERAGAMAN DAN KOMUNIKASI RITUAL DI KALANGAN NELAYAN MULTIETNIS DI KEDUNGREJO MUNCAR BANYUWANGI)

This research purpose to show how ritual communication in cultural social diversity of fi sherman community of Kedungrejo Muncar Banyuwangi going in harmony. As a result, collective ritual of Petik Laut become a media of communication and integration within variety of fi sherman community. The focuses of research are: 1. How reality of ritual of Kedungrejo fi sherman community?, 2. How cultural social diversity in the community be build?, 3. How ritual communication become a media of integration within this multi ethnic cultural community?. This research describes that the ideology is a signifi cant problem for coastal society caused of their character. Coastal communitues, generally known for being violent and open to religious and ideological diversity. Ritual communication as an integration media for cultural social community can be seen in implementation of Petik Laut collective ritual. It shows the coastal Islamic cosmology that communication on ritual erase social cultural border in their community.
 
 Keywords: Ritual, Plurality, Communication and Cosmology

Etnografi Komunikasi Ritual Tingkeban Neloni dan Mitoni Studi Etnografi Komunikasi Bagi Etnis Jawa di Desa Sumbersuko( )Kecamatan Gempol kabupaten Pasuruan

Tingkeban is a customary tradition of the community in Java for generations which indirectly can increase the confidence of a mother and father candidate to keep praying to be blessed with a sholehih baby branch and sholihah, that is with some ritual behavior done by society, basically is praying to get closer to Allah SWT. The purpose of this research is to see the communication of tingkeban neloni and mitoni rituals that occur in the community In Sumbersuko district Gempol Pasuruan regency. In this study the authors use qualitative methods of study of communication ethnography, because this method can describe, explain, and build relationships of categories and data found. This is in line with the objectives of the study of communication ethnography, to describe, analyze, and explain the communication behavior of one social group. The subject of the research is the seven monthly event consisting of three people and two people who understand and understand the meaning of the seven monthly event. Subject chosen by purposive sampling. The results of the research findings that seven-monthly ritual communication is a ritual activity performed at home or at home from parents of fathers or mothers, and attended by neighboring relatives and village communities Sumbersuko. Communicative events in seven-monthly rituals, topics, functions and objectives, settings, participants, message forms, message content, sequence of actions, interaction rules and norms, Whereas in communicative activities such as who knows and comprehends the implementation of seven monthly events is the host in seven monthly (tingkeban).

RELASI SOSIAL BUDAYA ATA KROWE DAN GUNUNG MAPITARA

This paper discusses about a relation between Mount Mapitara and Ata Krowe. Mount Mapitara is a sacred mountain that has a special meaning for Ata Krowe. Ata Krowe is a name for Krowe people who lived in Krowe adat area in Kabupaten Sikka, East Nusa Tenggara on Flores Island. The question raised in this paper is: what is the meaning of Mount Mapitara for Ata Krowe and how does that meaning was symbolized by material culture among Ata Krowe. To answer these questions, the research has been conducted to explore the way material culture were being used as symbols that related to the existence of Mount Mapitara. This study is applying this study was applying theory of symbols which refer to Michael Shanks and Christopher Tilley’s theory of ideology, symbolic power, and ritual communication. This theory was applied to identifiy the use of material cultures as symbol in a certain place and to define the symbol that related to Mount Mapitara. The research result indicate that there is material culture named wu’a mahe that has special meaning for Ata Krowe. Wu’a mahe is a stone altar that believed as a place where the ancestor had lived, before they were getting purified and move into Mount Mapitara as a perpetual place to stay. This paper is focusing on the relation between Mount Mapitara and Ata Krowe that can be seen from the use of material culture as symbols. Tulisan ini mendiskusikan tentang relasi antara gunung Mapitara dan Ata Krowe. Gunung Mapitara adalah gunung yang disakralkan dan memiliki makna penting bagi Ata Krowe. Ata Krowe adalah sebutan bagi orang-orang yang tinggal di wilayah adat Krowe di Kabupaten Sikka, Nusa Tenggara Timur di Pulau Flores. Pertanyaan yang dimunculkan dalam tulisan ini adalah apa makna Gunung Mapitara bagi Ata Krowe dan bagaimana pemaknaan tersebut disimbolkan dengan budaya materi yang ada pada Ata Krowe. Untuk menjawab pertanyaanpertanyaan tersebut, penelitian telah dilakukan untuk menggali informasi penggunaan budaya materi sebagai simbol yang berelasi dengan keberadaan Gunung Mapitara. Studi ini menerapkan teori simbol, merujuk teori yang digunakan oleh Michael Shanks dan Christopher Tilley: idelogi, kuasa simbolis, dan komunikasi ritual. Teori ini diterapkan untuk mengindentifikasi penggunaan budaya materi sebagai simbol yang ada pada tempat tertentu dan mendefinisikan simbol yang berelasi dengan Gunung Mapitara. Hasil dari penelitian yang telah dilakukan menunjukkan bahwa terdapat budaya materi bernama wu’a mahe yang memiliki makna khusus bagi Ata Krowe. Wu’a mahe adalah altar batu yang dipercaya sebagai tempat tinggal arwah leluhur sebelum disucikan dan nantinya pindah ke Gunung Mapitara sebagai tempat tinggal abadinya. Secara khusus, tulisan ini menekankan pada relasi antara Gunung Mapitara dan Ata Krowe dengan memperhatikan penggunaan budaya materi sebagai simbol.

RELASI SOSIAL BUDAYA ATA KROWE DAN GUNUNG MAPITARA

This paper discusses about a relation between Mount Mapitara and Ata Krowe. Mount Mapitara is a sacred mountain that has a special meaning for Ata Krowe. Ata Krowe is a name for Krowe people who lived in Krowe adat area in Kabupaten Sikka, East Nusa Tenggara on Flores Island. The question raised in this paper is: what is the meaning of Mount Mapitara for Ata Krowe and how does that meaning was symbolized by material culture among Ata Krowe. To answer these questions, the research has been conducted to explore the way material culture were being used as symbols that related to the existence of Mount Mapitara. This study is applying this study was applying theory of symbols which refer to Michael Shanks and Christopher Tilley’s theory of ideology, symbolic power, and ritual communication. This theory was applied to identifiy the use of material cultures as symbol in a certain place and to define the symbol that related to Mount Mapitara. The research result indicate that there is material culture named wu’a mahe that has special meaning for Ata Krowe. Wu’a mahe is a stone altar that believed as a place where the ancestor had lived, before they were getting purified and move into Mount Mapitara as a perpetual place to stay. This paper is focusing on the relation between Mount Mapitara and Ata Krowe that can be seen from the use of material culture as symbols.

Ritual Communication between Hindus and Muslims at Sarasuta Sacred Place, in Lingsar Village West Lombok Regency

This study intends to analyse ritual communication between two groups of people who have different religious in one sacred place. The problems associated with background meticulous ritual communication, the communication function of ritual, and the meaning of ritual communication between Hindus and Muslims at the sacred place of Sarasuta, in Lingsar village, West Lombok regency. This research is a qualitative descriptive study. In this case, data are collected by observation, interview, and documentation. The analysis method is descriptive qualitative. Based on data collection and data analysis that background of ritual communication between Hindus and a number of Muslims at Sarasuta sacred place associated with the implementation of belief systems, execution culture, and the embodiment of social ties. Ritual communication functions associated with the cultural function, social function, aesthetic function and religiosity function. The implied meaning concerning social meaning, ritual meaning, religious meaning, and ethics meaning.

From Campfire to Classroom: An Application of Talking Circles and Storytelling in Hospitality Management Education

ABSTRACTNative American Indians have used Talking Circles and storytelling as the foundation of oral tradition for thousands of years. In this research note, I describe how Talking Circles were used to encourage safe communication to produce a community based on sharing and empathy. Storytelling helps people solve problems, explain concepts, and marry past experience with future decisions. This research note examines one practical application of Talking Circles and storytelling in a hospitality management communications course as well as how this practice could be used in other hospitality courses at the same institution through traditional or digital communication channels. Although Talking Circles and storytelling are ancient communication rituals, they are being implemented today through digital means such as online courses, social media, and the Internet. Digital technology may encourage new forms of Talking Circles and storytelling that could be used to create collaborative communication platforms for positive social change.

Barossa Night: cohesion in the British Army officer corps

Contrasting the classical explanation of military group cohesion as sustained by interpersonal bonds, recent scholars have highlighted the importance of ritualized communication, training and drills in explaining effective military performance in professional armies. While this has offered a welcome addition to the cohesion literature and a novel micro-sociological method of examining cohesion, its primary evidential base has been combat groups. Indeed, despite their prominent role in directing operations over the past decade, the British Army's officer corps has received relatively little attention from sociologists during this period. No attempt has been made to explain cohesion in the officer corps. Using a similar method to recent cohesion scholars, this paper seeks to address this imbalance by undertaking a micro-sociology of one ritual in particular: 'Barossa Night' in the Royal Irish Regiment. Firstly, it draws on the work of Durkheim to examine how cohesion amongst the officer corps is created and sustained through a dense array of practises during formal social rituals. It provides evidence that the use of rituals highlights that social solidarity is central to understanding officer cohesion. Secondly, following Hockey's work on how private soldiers negotiate order, the paper shows how this solidarity in the officer corps is based on a degree of negotiated order and the need to release organizational tensions inherent in a strictly hierarchical rank structure. It highlights how the awarding of gallantry medals can threaten this negotiated order and fuel deviancy. In examining this behaviour, the paper shows that even amongst an officer class traditionally viewed as the elite upholders of organizational discipline, the negotiation of rank and hierarchy can be fluid. How deviant behaviour is later accepted and normalized by senior officers indicates that negotiated order is as important to understanding cohesion in the British Army's officer corps as it is amongst private soldiers.

‘This is a stage’: A study of public relations practitioners’ imagined online audiences

Public relations (PR) practitioners are among those cultural intermediaries who privilege symbols, products, and communication rituals in society. Through interviews (n=26) and analysis of practitioners’ Twitter accounts, this study considers how members of this field identify their personal social networking site audiences and how these behaviors are implicated in the performance of their online identity. Findings indicate practitioners feel pressure to use personal social media in accordance with field-constrained norms and that an “occupational publicness” pressure requires them to be visible online outside of the workplace. The persistent specter of public criticism from audiences and the prioritizing of organizational interests above their own self-expression limits performances of PR practitioners’ authentic selves online.

KOMUNIKASI RITUAL PEZIARAH “NGALAP BERKAH” DI KAWASAN WISATA GUNUNG KEMUKUS (Studi Etnografi Komunikasi Tentang Budaya Ritual Ziarah di Kawasan Wisata Gunung Kemukus, Desa Pendem, Kecamatan Sumber Lawang, Sragen-Jawa Tengah)

AbstractThis article is explain of ritual commucation pilgrim "ngalap berkah" in the Kemukus mountain, ethnographic study of communication about cultural tourism zone ritual pilgrimage in Mount Kemukus, Pendem Village, District Sumber Lawang, Sragen, Central Java. The results showed that for the local community a message of what is hidden behind this ritual is still ambiguity. But in the process of social interaction between indigenous communities with immigrant communities, both in terms of livelihoods, different behavior patterns, causing local people trying to accept changes to the meaning of "ngalap berkah". It is caused when the pilgrimage locations have changed or constructed for tourist commodification, and is thought to enhance the growth of local economies, which have an impact on improving social and economic conditions of the communities in Pendem.Keywords: ritual communication, ethnographic communications, ritual pilgrimage ngalap berkah, kemukus mountain

Pojedynki władców: zagadnienie komunikacji rytualnej

W tekście podjęto próbę wyjaśnienia znaczenia zjawiska, jakim były pojedynki władców. Wydaje się, że najlepiej zrozumieć je można, umieszczając je w kontekście komunikacji rytualnej. Wezwania do pojedynków władców, choć faktycznie nigdy żaden się nie odbył, były gestami rozpowszechnionymi od starożytności aż do czasów nowożytnych. Znamy je z licznych źródeł dokumentowych, literackich (Iliada) oraz ikonograficznych, a także z kronik. Wydaje się jednak, że dotychczas historycy nie poświęcili im należytej uwagi i nie zdołali tego zagadnienia prawidłowo odczytać oraz należycie wyjaśnić. Próba nowego spojrzenia na tę tematykę podjęta została w prezentowanym artykule.

Inscribing the Miraculous Place: Writing and Ritual Communication in the Chapel of a Guatemalan Popular Saint

The analysis of ritual in linguistic anthropology has witnessed significant advances in recent years, particularly those approaches which theorize ritual as fundamentally semiotic and ritual actions being composed of different kinds of sign relations across multiple modalities. Building on Silverstein's (2009) analysis of the interdiscursive chains of signification linking private and public rituals, this article examines how writing in the form of votive text‐artifacts is used by Guatemalan devotees to a popular saint as a public metasemiotic index substantiating the successful performance of their private ritual encounters, contributing to our broader understanding of writing's semiotic potential in ritual communication.

In de Ban van Tolkien

This article discusses how ‘believing’ works in Tolkien spirituality, a fiction-based religious milieu that uses J. R. R. Tolkien’s narratives, in particular The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, as authoritative texts. Members of this milieu engage in ritual communication with the supernatural beings from Tolkien’s universe, including the elves and the Valar (gods). After presenting the history of Tolkien spirituality and describing the main groups, I develop a model for analysing religious rationalisation. By this term I refer to the process through which theology is developed within religious traditions as a second-order reflection on ritual practices and authoritative narratives. I demonstrate that contrary to what one might expect the strategies of religious rationalisation in Tolkien spirituality are not that different from what we see in other new religions. While one might think that members of fiction-based religions (can) believe only in a cautious and playful manner, practitioners of Tolkien spirituality in fact tend to believe literally and to legitimise their beliefs with supposed proof. It is striking, however, that they tend to believe in a ‘cosmological’ rather than in a ‘historical’ mode, i.e. they believe in the existence of the Valar as spiritual beings, but not in the historical factuality of Tolkien’s narratives. In this sense, Tolkien spirituality may be a good illustration of a broader ‘dehistoricising turn’ in contemporary religion. The development of reflective beliefs in Tolkien spirituality is further shown to be governed by three principles that together seek to reduce tension between conflicting ideas within the tradition and to strike a balance between fabulousness and plausibility. It is suggested that these three principles of belief elaboration govern religious rationalisation also in other religious traditions, at least in traditions with a low level of institutionalisation.

Sunday TV Mass as a Ritual Communication among the youth

Sunday TV Mass (STVM) is one of the Catholic Churchs initiatives for evangelization via media. Primarily produced to spread the Good News, it is specifically for the sick and physically incapable since they cannot go to churches to attend Mass and fulfill their Sunday obligation. However, since the broadcast Mass is communicated through a mass medium and is exposed to a wider audience than necessarily targeted, some people, the adolescents (youth) in particular, make STVM an excuse to forego Mass attendance in their respective churches. This experimental study will focus on STVM on its role as evangelizer and catalyst to ritual formation. James Careys theory of Ritual Communication describes this practice as an enabler to the creation of a community of believers among the youth and George Gerbners Cultivation Theory on how television creates a worldview that unravels ritualistic experience by watching STVM. The respondents of the study are 40 high school students of Angelicum College. Selected purposively, the students were instructed and monitored to watch STVM for four Sundays. These students are top achievers in their Religion subjects and are exposed to different religious activities in their school.

Ethnography of a sustainable agriculture program: a case study of a social movement’s inception and growth on a university campus

This ethnography documents how the message of sustainability was interpreted and communicated through a sustainable agricultural (SAG) program at an American higher education institution. The ethnography documents the evolution of the program as the program tackled obstacles and accomplished its goals during the initial phases of the program’s development. A cultural communication framework is established in order to analyze the agitative, oppositional, intracommunal, and ritual communication utilized by the program’s members. The ethnography argues that the strategies and tactics employed by the SAG program alongside its curriculum and instruction are similar to the choices made by oppositional social movements. Findings reveal that when chosen and implemented intelligently, these strategies are as useful for a social movement within established academic institutions as they are for groups outside of them. The ethnography also highlights the importance of ritual communication as part of both education and social movement interactions.