The Hierarchy of Ritual Inversion: Asceticism and Gender at the Great Indian Festival, Kumbh Mela, Sondra HAUSNER
2018-02-08 17:30 - 19:30 (Europe/Paris) | Lesc – salle 308F (3e étage) - 21, allée de l’Université, Nanterre, , 92000, France
Sondra HAUSNER, Professor of Anthropology of Religion, University of Oxford

Why are some social distinctions inverted and others static during occasions of ritual activity? This paper asks which elements of the social order are malleable, and whether such flexibility in ritual contexts depends on the fixed nature of particular relations of hierarchy in other spheres. For example, at the Kumbh Mela festival of north India, the social distinctions between ascetics and householders are exposed in a classic example of ritual inversion: ascetics take centre stage while householders attend as worshipping pilgrims. By contrast, everyday hierarchies between women and men appear reified rather than reversed: women ascetics remain on the farthest margins, behind the scenes or erased from view. Does the hierarchical relation between the genders ground the capacity for ritual to test the relation between ascetics and householders? Ritual is famous in its capacity to invert relations, but not all elements of the social world are equally fluid.

Sondra HAUSNER nous propose les textes suivants pour préparer l’atelier :

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gcqgs16jczq4vyb/AAAtfEkAzUWgVXWzKquUoEg8a?dl=0

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