Revelation and Divination in Ndembu Ritual

Victor Turner (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

352 Seiten

1975
Cornell University Press (Verlag)
9780801491580 (ISBN)

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The core of this book is a complete description of two important Ndembu rituals of affliction (Chihamba and Kayong'u), and an analysis of the system of ideas underlying more than a dozen modes of divination. Written by an internationally-known social scientist, the book demonstrates how the study of small-scale events may reveal as much about what it means to be a human being in society as do grand macrosocial and macrocultural surveys.Drawing on two and a half years of fieldwork, Victor Turner offers two thorough ethnographic studies of Ndembu revelatory ritual and divinatory techniques, with running commentaries on symbolism by a variety of Ndembu informants. Striking a personal note in the introductory chapter, Turner acknowledges his indebtedness to Ndembu ritualists for alerting him to the theoretical relevance of symbolic action in understanding human societies. He believes that ritual symbols, like botanists' stains, enable us to detect and trace the movement of social processes and relationships that often lie below the level of direct observation.

Victor Turner is Professor of Anthropology and Social Thought at the University of Chicago.

IntroductionPart One. Chihamba the White Spirit: A Ritual Drama of the Ndembu1. Chihamba the White Spirit
2. Some Notes of the Symbolism of Chihamba
3. Some White Symbols in Literature and ReligionPart Two. Ndembu Divination: Its Symbolism and Techniques4. A Preliminary Analysis of Ndembu Divinatory Symbolism
5. Some Kinds and Methods of Ndembu DivinationAppendix
Bibliographic References
Index

Erscheint lt. Verlag	30.9.1975
Reihe/Serie	Symbol, Myth and Ritual
Verlagsort	Ithaca
Sprache	englisch
Maße	140 x 216 mm
Gewicht	454 g
Themenwelt	Sozialwissenschaften ► Ethnologie ► Volkskunde
Themenwelt	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie
ISBN-13	9780801491580 / 9780801491580
Zustand	Neuware