Beyond Symbolic Representation

Abstract

Victor Turner’s celebrated work The Ritual Process published in 1969 provided a radically new perspective on the study of ritual. It was a major departure from the dominant theoretical schools of the time that had discussed ritual primarily in terms of representation, reproduction, or mystification. In Turner’s thinking ritual was re-conceived as a crucible for the emergence of original meaning, of new ways of structuring relations and for reorienting experience. Moreover, his concern reached well beyond the exploration of ritual as such and was ultimately aimed at the understanding of the possibilities and potentialities of human being. This article focuses on Turner’s major contribution to the study of ritual and attempts to extend in some ways the direction to which the path that he blazed was leading. Ideas concerning the dynamics and virtuality of ritual are developed in relation to Turner’s concepts of process and liminality. Keywords: Victor Turner, ritual, process, liminality, dynamics, virtuality

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