Module Code - Title:
MD6132
-
ADVANCED RITUAL STUDIES
Year Last Offered:
2025/6
Hours Per Week:
Grading Type:
N
Prerequisite Modules:
Rationale and Purpose of the Module:
The purpose of this module is to introduce students to current theories of ritual practice with an emphasis on nascent, emergent and creative dimensions of ritual. It will also engage with questions of ritual media, particularly as these pertain to ritual efficacy. It will introduce a number of current religious ritual practices in ireland and explore Grimes' concept of the ritual laboratory (2010) as a means of engaging in ritual practice and performances for the purposes of participant scholarship.
Syllabus:
This module introduces students to current theories of ritual practice with an emphases on nascent, emergent and creative dimensions of ritual. It will also engage with questions of ritual media, particularly as these pertain to ritual efficacy. It will explore Grimes' concept of the ritual laboratory (1994)and engage experientially in ritual facilitation and performance for the purposes of participant, reflexive scholarship concerning the role and efficacy of ritual.
Learning Outcomes:
Cognitive (Knowledge, Understanding, Application, Analysis, Evaluation, Synthesis)
1. Synthesise relevant theories and methods from key ritual studies texts in an articulate and critical manner
2. Explore and interrogate the approach of ritual laboratory as a means of understanding and creatively engaging in ritual practice
3. Apply theoretical paradigms to the experiential and collaborative leaning of ritual laboratory
Affective (Attitudes and Values)
Proactively respond to ethical issues arising from an experiential and collaborative engagement in ritual laboratory
Psychomotor (Physical Skills)
Creatively choreograph and perform in a ritual laboratory setting
How the Module will be Taught and what will be the Learning Experiences of the Students:
This module is taught through a combination of reading seminars and experiential learning based on Ronald Grimes' concept of the ritual laboratory (1994, Beginnings in Ritual Studies, University of South Carolina Press). This approach involves the collaborative facilitation of ritual performances devised and choreographed by students through the facilitation of the module leader. Reflexive journals are kept on a weekly basis and weekly feedback sessions add to the cumulative insights of experiential learning, with a particular emphasis on sonic, gestural, visual and spatial dimensions of ritual performance. Students are encouraged to engage critically and creatively with the ritual experience and to work collaboratively in the creative of ritual performances.
Research Findings Incorporated in to the Syllabus (If Relevant):
Prime Texts:
Quack, J, et al. (2010)
The Problem of Ritual Efficacy
, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Grimes, R. (1994)
Beginnings in Ritual Studies
, University of North Carolina Press
Anderson, H. and Foley, E. (1998)
Mighty Stories, Dangerous Rituals
, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Phelan, H. (2008)
"Practice, Ritual and Community Music: Doing as Identity"
, International Journal of Community Music 1/2. 143-158.
Brown, G. (2003)
" Theorizing Ritual as performance: Explorations of Ritual Indeterminacy"
, Journal of Ritual Studies 17/1. 3-18
Other Relevant Texts:
Tomlinson, M. (2014)
Ritual Textuality: Pattern and Motion in Performance
, Oxford University Press
Bowie, Fiona (2005)
The Anthropology of Religion: An Introduction 2nd ed.
, Boston and Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Programme(s) in which this Module is Offered:
MARCSOTFA - RITUAL CHANT AND SONG
MAETMUTFA - ETHNOMUSICOLOGY
MAETCHTFA - ETHNOCHOREOLOGY
MAFEARTFA - FESTIVE ARTS
Semester(s) Module is Offered:
Spring
Module Leader:
Helen.Phelan@ul.ie