Ritual

Robbie Davis-Floyd is Adjunct Professor in the Dept. of Anthropology at Rice University, and Fellow of the Society for Applied Anthropology. She is the author of many books including Ways of Knowing about Birth: Mothers, Midwives, Medicine, and Birth Activism (2018, Waveland).

List of Illustrations



Foreword

Betty Sue Flowers



Preface

Acknowledgments



Introduction: What is Ritual? Its Definition and Characteristics

Chapter 1. Symbolism in Ritual

Chapter 2. The Cognitive Matrix of Ritual: Belief Systems, Myths, and Paradigms

Chapter 3. Belief Systems, Myths, Paradigms, Rituals, and the Process of Truing

Chapter 4. Ritual Drivers: Generating and Controlling Stages of Consciousness

Chapter 5. Ritual Techniques and Technologies

Chapter 6. Ritual Framing, Order, and Formality: How Ritual Generates a Sense of Inevitability and Inviolability

Chapter 7. Ritual as Performance: Generating Emotion, Belief, and Transformation

Chapter 8. Ritual and the 4 Stages of Cognition

Chapter 9. Ritual's Paradoxical Roles: Preserving the Status Quo and Effecting Social Change

Chapter 10. Designing Rituals



Conclusion: Ritual: What It Is, How It Works, and Why



Appendix 1. How to Create and Perform an Effective Stage 4 Ritual: Things to Remember and Include

Appendix 2. List of Documentary Films about Ritual



References

Index