ANTHR 6420 - [Ritual and Myth: Structure, Process, Practice]

Spring. 4 credits.

Next offered 2013-2014.

D. Holmberg.

This seminar focuses on theories of ritual and myth, engaging first classic formulations as found in Durkheim, Weber, and Evans-Pritchard, then the contributions to what converged as symbolic anthropology and structuralism including Levi-Strauss, Geertz, and Victor Turner. In the second part of the semester we engage new directions in anthropology of ritual and myth considering psychoanalytic approaches, practice theory, and deconstruction. Everyone in the seminar is expected to write a term paper on a topic of their choice.