This examines theory and purposes of ritual throughout the life cycle, but especially in childhood. The religious function is stressed, along with the psychological or expressive, ideological or cultural, and social. "Religion," "religious" and "spiritual" are broadly defined as…
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Many scholars agree that from the second to the fifth century, a broad spectrum of religious elements from Greek mysteries, Jewish dance expressions, Roman customs, and notions of various local cults entered the church and transformed simple Christianity into a mystical hybrid o…
This dissertation provides an anthropological analysis on a source of cultural reflection and meaning common to all societies--the human body. The assumption here is that the body is used as a means of communication and as a basis for thinking about other things. The concern for…
This dissertation is an in-depth ethnographic study of stambeli , a musico-therapeutic trance and spirit possession ritual whose origins are found among slaves, their descendents, and other displaced sub-Saharans in Tunis. The main purpose of the music is to heal humans by invok…
