The Ritual Animal

Author : Harvey Whitehouse
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199646368
Total Pages : 251 pages
Book Rating : 4.64/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Ritual Animal written by Harvey Whitehouse and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Copying rituals has allowed cultural groups to proliferate over time. Rare, traumatic rituals produce strong cohesion in small relational groups, whereas daily/weekly rituals produce cohesion in expandable communities. This study presents a theory of how these two ritual modes have influenced history over thousands of years.

Author : Caitlin O'Connell
Publisher : Chronicle Books
ISBN 13 : 1797201611
Total Pages : 234 pages
Book Rating : 4.10/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Wild Rituals written by Caitlin O'Connell and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2021-01-12 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wild Rituals explores how embracing the rituals of the animal kingdom can make us more connected to ourselves, nature, and others. Behavioral ecologist and world-renowned elephant scientist Caitlin O'Connell dives into the rituals of elephants, apes, zebras, rhinos, lions, whales, flamingos, and many more. This fascinating read helps us better understand how we are similar to wild animals, and encourages us to find healing, self-awareness, community, and self-reinvention. • Filled with fascinating stories on 10 different animal rituals • Features original full-color photos, from the Caribbean to the African savannah • Demonstrates the profound way we are similar to the wild creatures who captivate us Wild Rituals journeys into the desert, tundra, and rainforest to reveal the importance of rituals and how they can help us find a simpler, more meaningful way of living. In a culture of technology where we find ourselves living at a greater distance from nature and each other, this remarkable book taps into the unspoken languages of creatures around the world. • Caitlin O'Connell is on the faculty at Harvard Medical School and an award-winning author who spent more than 30 years studying animals in the wild. • Makes a great gift for anyone curious about nature, animals, and how humans compare to and interact with both • Add it to the shelf with books like Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel by Carl Safina; Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? by Frans de Waal; The Inner Life of Animals: Love, Grief, and Compassion—Surprising Observations of a Hidden World by Peter Wohlleben; and The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness by Sy Montgomery.

Author : Nerissa Russell
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1139504347
Total Pages : 561 pages
Book Rating : 4.48/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Social Zooarchaeology written by Nerissa Russell and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2011-11-14 with total page 561 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first book to provide a systematic overview of social zooarchaeology, which takes a holistic view of human-animal relations in the past. Until recently, archaeological analysis of faunal evidence has primarily focused on the role of animals in the human diet and subsistence economy. This book, however, argues that animals have always played many more roles in human societies: as wealth, companions, spirit helpers, sacrificial victims, totems, centerpieces of feasts, objects of taboos, and more. These social factors are as significant as taphonomic processes in shaping animal bone assemblages. Nerissa Russell uses evidence derived from not only zooarchaeology, but also ethnography, history and classical studies, to suggest the range of human-animal relationships and to examine their importance in human society. Through exploring the significance of animals to ancient humans, this book provides a richer picture of past societies.

Author : Margo de Mello
Publisher : MSU Press
ISBN 13 : 1628952717
Total Pages : 261 pages
Book Rating : 4.11/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Mourning Animals written by Margo de Mello and published by MSU Press. This book was released on 2016-08-01 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We live more intimately with nonhuman animals than ever before in history. The change in the way we cohabitate with animals can be seen in the way we treat them when they die. There is an almost infinite variety of ways to help us cope with the loss of our nonhuman friends—from burial, cremation, and taxidermy; to wearing or displaying the remains (ashes, fur, or other parts) of our deceased animals in jewelry, tattoos, or other artwork; to counselors who specialize in helping people mourn pets; to classes for veterinarians; to tips to help the surviving animals who are grieving their animal friends; to pet psychics and memorial websites. But the reality is that these practices, and related beliefs about animal souls or animal afterlife, generally only extend, with very few exceptions, to certain kinds of animals—pets. Most animals, in most cultures, are not mourned, and the question of an animal afterlife is not contemplated at all. Mourning Animals investigates how we mourn animal deaths, which animals are grievable, and what the implications are for all animals.

Author : Aleksander Pluskowski
Publisher : Oxbow Books Limited
ISBN 13 : 9781842174449
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.44/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Ritual Killing and Burial of Animals written by Aleksander Pluskowski and published by Oxbow Books Limited. This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The killing and burial of animals in ritualistic contexts is encountered across Europe from Prehistory through to the historical period. This volume presents the state of research across Europe to illustrate how comparable interpretative frameworks are used by archaeologists working with both prehistoric and historical societies. Key questions include: How easy is it to identify ritually killed animals in the archaeological record? Can we tell if an animal has been killed specifically for such a purpose? Is it possible to reconstruct the rites associated with their deposition? What insights can be gained about the religious paradigms and ritual systems of the societies engaged in animal sacrifice? Together, the 16 papers represent a snapshot of the current state of research on this fundamental, recurring and spectacular aspect of human societies in the past.

Author : Maaike Groot
Publisher : Amsterdam University Press
ISBN 13 : 9089640223
Total Pages : 285 pages
Book Rating : 4.22/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Animals in Ritual and Economy in a Roman Frontier Community written by Maaike Groot and published by Amsterdam University Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Religion - Opfer - Ritus - Ernährung.

Author : Harvey Whitehouse
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0192520970
Total Pages : 251 pages
Book Rating : 4.75/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Ritual Animal written by Harvey Whitehouse and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-11-25 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A radical exploration of how rituals have influenced history over thousands of years. From infancy, we copy those around us in order to be like others, to be one with the tribe. Other primates will copy behaviour that leads to transparent benefits, such as access to food, but only humans promiscuously copy actions that have no obvious instrumental purpose. The copying of causally opaque behaviour (rituals) has allowed cultural groups to proliferate over time and space. The frequency and emotional intensity of ritual performances constrains the scale and structure of cultural groups. Rare, traumatic rituals (e.g. painful initiations) produce very strong social cohesion in small, relational groups such as military battalions or local cults whereas daily and weekly rituals (e.g. collective praying in mosques, churches, and synagogues) produce diffuse cohesion in indefinitely expandable communities. This pioneering study presents a theory of how these two 'ritual modes' have influenced the course of human history over many thousands of years and continue to shape the groups we live in today. The resulting programme of research offers a radically new paradigm for the social sciences, one that bridges across disciplinary silos, samples the full diversity of the world's populations, and plumbs our richest sources of information about cultural systems, past and present. In doing so, leading anthropologist Harvey Whitehouse shows how we can modify the way we tackle some of the most pressing challenges of our day, from violent extremism to global heating. All the problems humanity creates are ultimately problems of cooperation. Solving these problems will require social glue. Whitehouse suggests various practical ways in which our growing knowledge about the role of ritual in group bonding can help us achieve a more peaceful and prosperous future, not only for ourselves but for all species who share the planet with us.

Author : Adam Nevill
Publisher : Macmillan
ISBN 13 : 0312641842
Total Pages : 435 pages
Book Rating : 4.49/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Ritual written by Adam Nevill and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2012-02-14 with total page 435 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A horror debut by one of Britain's most celebrated up-and-coming writers, in which four friends get lost in a forest in Sweden, to find their lives are in mortal peril... as something evil lurks.

Author : John Hartigan Jr.
Publisher : U of Minnesota Press
ISBN 13 : 1452965188
Total Pages : 290 pages
Book Rating : 4.85/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Shaving the Beasts written by John Hartigan Jr. and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2020-11-17 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A vivid first-person study of a notorious equine ritual—from the perspective of the wild horses who are its targets Wild horses still roam the mountains of Galicia, Spain. But each year, in a ritual dating to the 1500s called rapa das bestas, villagers herd these “beasts” together and shave their manes and tails. Shaving the Beasts is a firsthand account of how the horses experience this traumatic rite, producing a profound revelation about the durability of sociality in the face of violent domination. John Hartigan Jr. constructs an engrossing, day-by-day narrative chronicling the complex, nuanced social lives of wild horses and the impact of their traumatic ritual shearing every summer. His story generates intimate, individual portraits of these creatures while analyzing the social practices—like grazing and grooming—that are the building blocks of equine society. Shaving the Beasts culminates in a searing portrayal of the inspiring resilience these creatures display as they endure and recover from rapa das bestas. Turning away from “thick” description to “thin,” Hartigan moves toward a more observational form of study, focusing on behaviors over interpretations. This vivid approach provides new and important contributions to the study of animal behavior. Ultimately, he comes away with profound, penetrating insights into multispecies interactions and a strong alternative to humancentric ethnographic practices.

Author : Barry Stephenson
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199943583
Total Pages : 143 pages
Book Rating : 4.86/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Ritual: A Very Short Introduction written by Barry Stephenson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2015-01-28 with total page 143 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ritual is part of what it means to be human. Like sports, music, and drama, ritual defines and enriches culture, putting those who practice it in touch with sources of value and meaning larger than themselves. Ritual is unavoidable, yet it holds a place in modern life that is decidedly ambiguous. What is ritual? What does it do? Is it useful? What are the various kinds of ritual? Is ritual tradition bound and conservative or innovative and transformational? Alongside description of a number of specific rites, this Very Short Introduction explores ritual from both theoretical and historical perspectives. Barry Stephenson focuses on the places where ritual touches everyday life: in politics and power; moments of transformation in the life cycle; as performance and embodiment. He also discusses the boundaries of ritual, and how and why certain behaviors have been studied as ritual while others have not. Stephenson shows how ritual is an important vehicle for group and identity formation; how it generates and transmits beliefs and values; how it can be used to exploit and oppress; and how it has served as a touchstone for thinking about cultural origins and historical change. Encompassing the breadth and depth of modern ritual studies, Barry Stephenson's Very Short Introduction also develops a narrative of ritual's place in social and cultural life. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.