عنوان

"The Koyukon Bear Party and the "Bare Facts" of Ritual"

شماره

LA122202

زبان متن نوشتاري يا گفتاري و مانند آن

انگلیسی

عنوان اصلي

"The Koyukon Bear Party and the "Bare Facts" of Ritual"

نام عام مواد

[Article]

نام نخستين پديدآور

Benjamin C. Ray

محل نشرو پخش و غیره

Leiden

نام ناشر، پخش کننده و غيره

Brill

متن يادداشت

"Jonathan Smith's recent interpretation of the classic "bear festival" among northern hunters is examined, together with his more general theory of ritual. Smith's interpretation of the bear festival is shown to be unfounded. The paper also investigates the well-documented bear rituals of the Koyukon of Alaska in light of Smith's general theory of ritual. Viewed in the context of other theories of ritual as symbolic action (those of Geertz, Douglas, Valeri, Turner, Eliade), Smith's theory is found to be unsuited to the task of understanding the meaning and significance of Koyukon bear rituals. The paper argues that the interpretation of ritual requires the investigator to attend to the ritualist's notion of reality and to grasp how his beliefs and actions are fitted to it. The investigator should be concerned with questions of meaning not empirical validity, as the problem of understanding ritual is a semantic and semiotic one, analogous to understanding the cognitive and performative uses of a language. The magical or instrumental aspect of the Koyukon bear rituals is also dealt with as an instance of performative language. Jonathan Smith's recent interpretation of the classic "bear festival" among northern hunters is examined, together with his more general theory of ritual. Smith's interpretation of the bear festival is shown to be unfounded. The paper also investigates the well-documented bear rituals of the Koyukon of Alaska in light of Smith's general theory of ritual. Viewed in the context of other theories of ritual as symbolic action (those of Geertz, Douglas, Valeri, Turner, Eliade), Smith's theory is found to be unsuited to the task of understanding the meaning and significance of Koyukon bear rituals. The paper argues that the interpretation of ritual requires the investigator to attend to the ritualist's notion of reality and to grasp how his beliefs and actions are fitted to it. The investigator should be concerned with questions of meaning not empirical validity, as the problem of understanding ritual is a semantic and semiotic one, analogous to understanding the cognitive and performative uses of a language. The magical or instrumental aspect of the Koyukon bear rituals is also dealt with as an instance of performative language."

تاريخ نشر

1991

توصيف ظاهري

151-176

عنوان

Numen

شماره جلد

38/2

شماره استاندارد بين المللي پياييندها

1568-5276

مستند نام اشخاص تاييد نشده

Benjamin C. Ray

شماره بازیابی

10.1163/156852791X00105

نام الکترونيکي

فرمت انتشار

p

نوع ماده

[Article]

کد کاربرگه

275578

سطح دسترسي

a

تكميل شده

Y