Introduction to Seminar Readings
David N. Power
The purpose of this seminar was enunciated by Professor George McLean in
his invitation. This selection of readings is meant to introduce various aspects
of the thematic and to foster discussion. At the heart of the issue of
globalization, change and identity, is the question of the symbolic meaning and
expression by which peoples express their world view, their relations and their
sense of original identity. The selection has been done from a vast amount of
literature and can easily be augmented by the seminar participants, but it is
hoped that the readings here provided may help to introduce and pursue the
issues involved.
-The first set of readings offers examples of the symbolic universe in
which peoples live, to illustrate the scope and complexity of the issue of
culture, identity, intercultural action and change, when this is focused on
symbolic expression.
- The second set illustrates how symbols are
interpreted and what is the relation between symbols and the symbolic.
- The third set addresses specifically the question
of the relation between globalization and particular cultural identity and
meaning, when this is seen to mean much more than a development of economic or
even political relations, involving as it does the symbolic universe and all the
perceptions and relationships that this entails.
- The fourth set summarizes how writers discuss the
relation between the symbols, social structure and social action.
- The fifth set have to do with ritual action.
- The
sixth give some examples of what is specific to religious symbolism and ritual.
- The seventh set treats of the role of symbolic
ritual in times of change.
- The eighth and final set raises the question of
how the writing of history draws on a people’s symbolic heritage, in order to
find a way of expressing meaning and continuity, even within discontinuity and
the apparently contingent.
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PART
ONE: The Symbolic Universe
Geertz,
Clifford. “Ethos, World View, and the Analysis of Sacred Symbols.” From The
Interpretation of Cultures (New York: Basic Booksm 1973), 126-169.
Abraham,
W. Emmanuel. “Sources of African Identity.” From Person and Community.
Ghanaian Philosophical Studies, ed. Kwasi Wiredu & Kwame Gyekye
(Washington, DC: CRVP, 1992), 39-57.
Henderson,
John B. “Correlative Thought in Early China.” From The Development and
Decline of Chinese Cosmology (New York: Columbia U.P, 1984),1-58.
Ricoeur,
Paul. “The Symbol Gives Rise to Thought.” From The Symbolism of Evil (Boston:
Beacon Press, 1967), 347-357.
Ricoeur, Paul. “Metaphor and Symbol.” From Interpretation
Theory: Discourse and the Surplus
of Meaning (Fort Worth, TX: Texas Christian Univ.Pr.,1976), 45-69.
Habermas, Jürgen. “The Liberating Power of
Symbols.” From The Liberating Power of Symbols:Philosophical Essays (Cambridge,Mass:
MIT Press, 2001), 1-29.
Eco,
Umberto. “Symbol,” From Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language
(Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1986), 130-163.
Kristeva,
Julia. “The System: the Speaking Subject” and “From Symbol to Sign,”
From The Kristeva Reader, ed. Toril Moi (New York: Columbia University
Press, 1986), 25-33, 63-73
Hall, Stuart. “The Local and the Global: Globalization and
Ethnicity.” From Culture, Globalization and the World System, ed,
Anthony D. King (Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis, 1997/2000), 19-39.
Ricoeur, Paul. “Universal Civilization: National
Cultures.” From History and Truth Evanston:Northwestern University
Press, 1965), 271-284.
Schreiter, Robert. “Intercultural Hermeneutics:
Issues and Prospects.” From The New Catholicity: Theology between the Local
and the Global (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1997), 28-45.
Jenks, Chris. “The Relation between Culture and Social Structure,”
and Culture and Social Action.” From Culture (London & New York:
Routledge, 1993), 25-65.
Schutz, Alfred. “Foundations of a Theory of
Intersubjective Understanding.” From
The Phenomenology of the Social World (Evanston: Northwestern University
Press, 1967),97-138.
Ricoeur, Paul. “Geertz.” From Lectures on
Ideology and Utopia (New York: Columbia University Press, 1986), 254-266.
Bell, Catherine. “Ritual and Society.” From Ritual: Perspectives
and Dimensions (New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), 23-60.
Bell, Catherine. “Ritual Symbols, Syntax, and
Praxis.” Ibid., pp. 61-89.
Nketia, J. H. Kwabena. “Musical Interaction in
Ritual Events.” From Music and The Experience of God. Concilium, April
1989, 111-124.
Appiah, Kwame Anthony. “Old Gods, New Worlds.”
From In My Father’s House. Africa in the Philosophy of Culture (Oxford:
Oxford Un. Pr.,1992), 107-136..
Ndzobo, N.K. “Values in a Changing Society: Man, Ancestors and God.”
From Person and Community, 223-240.
Schreiter, Robert. “Religious Identity: Synthesis
and Syncretism.” The New Catholicity, 62-83.
Geertz, Clifford. “Ritual and Social Change: A Javanese Esample.”
From Interpretation of Cultures, 142-169.
Katz, Paul. “Festivals and the Recreation of
Identity in South China. A Case Study of Processions and Expulsion Rites in
Pucheng Zhejiang.” Journal of Ritual Studies 19 (2005): 67-75.
Wallace, Vesna A. “A Generation of Power through
Ritual Protection and Transformation of Identity in Indian Tantric Buddhism.” Journal
of Ritual Studies 19 (2005): 115-127.
White, Hayden. “History as Fulfillment,” 1-9.
Ricoeur, Paul. “The Historian’s
Representation.” From Memory, History, Forgetting (Chicago &
London: University of Chicago Press, 2004), 234-280.
Eliade, Mircea. Patterns in Comparative Religion. New York: New
American Library, 1963.
Firth, R. Symbols, Public and Private. London:
George Allen and Unwin, 1973.
Handelman, Don. Models and Mirrors: Towards an
Anthropology of Public Events. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Cosmos and Society in Oceania. Ed. Daniel de
Coppet & André Iteanu. Oxford: Berg Publishers, 1995.
Austin,
J.L. How to Do Things with Words. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University
Press, 1975.
Habermas, Jürgen. Knowledge and Human
Interests. London: Heinemann, 1978.
Langer,
Susanne. Philosophy in a New Key. New York: Mentor Books, 1964.
Womack, Mari. Symbols and Meaning. A Concise
Introduction. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press, 2005.
{A useful primer, with bibliographical references).
A
Ricoeur Reader, ed.
M. J. Valdes. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991.
Hermeneutics
and the Human Sciences, ed.
J. B. Thompson. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981.
The Conflict of Interpretations. Evanston:
Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1974
Beyer,
Peter. Religion and Globalization. London: Sage, 1994.
Elias,
Norbert. The Symbol Theory. London: Sage, 1991.
_______. The Civilising Process. Oxford:
Blackwell, 2000.
Robertson, Roland. Globalization. Social Theory
and Global Culture. London: Sage, 1992.
Culture, Globalization and the World System.
Contemporary Conditions for the Representation of Idenity, ed. Anthony D.
King. New York: State University of New York, 1991.
Goody,
Jack. The Interface between the Written and the Oral. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1987.
Herzfeld,
Michael. Anthropology. Theoretical Practice in Culture and Society. Oxford
& Malden, Mass: Blackwell, 2001.
Turner, Victor. Dramas, Fields and Metaphor.
Symbolic Action in Human Society. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press,
1974.
Bell, Catherine. Ritual Theory. Ritual Practice. New York: Oxford
University Press, 1992.
Bloch, Maurice. Ritual History and Power. Essays
in Anthropology. London: Athlone Press, 1989.
Douglas, Mary. Natural Symbols. Explorations in
Cosmology. New York: Vintage Books, 1973.
Grimes, Ronald. Research in Ritual Studies. Metchuen,
NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1985.
Kertzer, David. Ritual, Politics and Power. New
Haven: Yale University Press, 1988.
Smith, Jonath Z. To Take Place. Toward Theory in
Ritual. Chicago” University of Chicago Press, 1987.
Girard, René. Violence and the Sacred. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins
University Press, 1977.
Firth, Religion. A Humanist Interpretation. London
& New York: Routledge, 1996.
Rapaport, Ray A. Ecology, Meaning and Religion. Richmond,
CA: North Atlantic Books, 1979.
For further case studies, consult Journal for Ritual Studies.
Certeau, Michel de. The Writing of History. New York: Columbia
University Press, 1988.
Halbwachs, Maurice. The Collective Memory. New
York: Harper Colophon, 1980.
White, Hayden. The Content of the
Form. Narrative Discourse and Historical Representation .Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins University Press, 1987.